As local authorities square up to the housing and care demands of older people, new public-private partnerships are emerging to enable housing associations to meet their needs. Melinda Phillips...
The demise of university science departments, coupled with a sharp decline in the number of school pupils learning languages, is causing alarm that the UK's competitiveness is at risk, as Stephen...
Halfway through its life, the government's efficiency programme is ahead of its targets. But with a fiscal squeeze on the way and no let-up in spending plans, the public sector is going to feel the...
Services for older people are 'teetering on the brink', Local Government Association chair Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart was due to tell the House of Lords on December 7.
Inaccuracies in the way hospitals code the activities they perform to bill primary care trusts 'undermines' the payment by results regime, the Audit Commission has warned.
A patient survey that will decide whether GP practices receive a bonus of up to £8,000 is biased and potentially pejorative, the British Medical Association said this week.
The transfer of hospital services into the community moved a step further this week as the government told primary care trusts to develop local markets with a range of providers.
An all-too familiar debate was reignited this week as ministers unveiled the provisional local government grant settlement for 2007/08. Councils were quick to warn that they faced tough choices...
NHS budget cuts, tight eligibility criteria and foot-dragging on personalised services have created 'pockets of poor performance' in adult social care, England's inspectorate has found.
NHS managers feel like they've been jumping through hoops and juggling priorities for ever. Now the health secretary is about to launch a major new challenge, in the form of a revamped payment by...
The chief executive of the NHS in Wales has called for an end to deficits in the principality's health boards and trusts and challenged finance professionals to exert greater influence and leadership.
There's much to please local authorities in the white paper, particularly in terms of deregulation and decentralisation. But real devolution, letting councils decide local priorities, is still a long...
Tolerance for diverse ethnic and religious traditions has long been part of Britain's multicultural society, writes Ann Rossiter. But community cohesion is being seriously undermined and the causes...
Children's minister Beverley Hughes this week came under fire from MPs concerned that greater independence for schools undermines the chances of children in care.
Health and education took a back seat in the Queen's Speech, but the absence of a Bill merging the health and social care inspectorates drew confused responses.
Launching the report of his inquiry into local government finance in Scotland, Sir Peter Burt the current chair of ITV repeated several times what he saw as a main attraction of his proposed new...
Experts have predicted another tough financial year for the NHS in England after the Department of Health published the payment by results tariff increases for 2007/08.
