Despite the best efforts of the Disability Discrimination Act, too many disabled people are still treated as second-class citizens. The new equality duty on public sector organisations is intended to...
Babies born in poor parts of England or to parents from ethnic minorities are up to seven times as likely to die before the age of one as those born in the richest areas, a government review has...
Government health watchdogs have criticised the 'disgraceful' lack of co-ordinated effort in reducing the number of children who have to be taken to hospital following preventable injury.
GPs could deliver huge savings for the NHS by taking on more of the care traditionally given in acute hospitals, according to a Department of Health expert.
Public sector pension funds have launched a campaign against inflation-busting bonuses for executives at US and multinational companies, using their substantial assets as leverage.
The NHS must recruit many more consultant obstetricians and thousands of midwives to ensure a major shake-up in maternity services delivers better patient care, experts said this week.
Rural regeneration was once top of the in-tray at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But other political priorities are preoccupying ministers, and public services in the...
As the UK rushes to improve the skills of its workforce, a door has opened for more private sector involvement in further and higher education. Is this filling a gap or taking over at the expense of...
Central government claims that there is no more money to fund adult social care 'ring hollow' as it is withholding an extra £1bn from the 2007/08 local government grant, councils have said.
An extensive review of the welfare system will consider reducing the period for which lone parents receive child benefits but ministers have vowed not to reduce payment levels, the Department for...
Whitehall health officials this week conceded that they have taken on board the lessons of a failed hospital development after senior MPs slammed the project's management.
'Thinking the unthinkable' is a term synonymous with New Labour's rather self-aggrandising approach to policy reform yet the reality is that some ministers have been marginalised for obliging with...
US-style healthcare schemes are increasingly being imported into the NHS. But do they work on UK soil? Opinion is sharply divided within the medical profession and beyond. Seamus Ward investigates
Public bodies are well versed in EU procurement rules, which require various services to be put out to tender. But recent European Court judgments have muddied the water. Norman Ballantyne explains
Should the chief financial officer always be on a council's top management team? CIPFA's vice-president gives his views on the subject that has been exercising PF readers in recent weeks
Councils with social care responsibilities are anticipating increasing council tax by an average of just 3.6% in 2007/08 a 1% drop on last year despite claiming a funding 'crisis' for adult care...
Who would have thought it? NHS Resource Accounting and Budgeting has suddenly got the media excited. And there's plenty more fancy footwork where that came from. Andy McKeon explains how the Rab...
A controversial Scottish Executive report showing that Scotland has an £11.2bn funding 'black hole' might have contained an error over the level of public spending, chief economist Andrew Goudie...
Social care minister Ivan Lewis has responded to last week's damning report on social care for older people by calling for a 'new, fair settlement' between the state and individuals.
