Social care minister Liam Byrne has taken the first step towards giving elderly and disabled people budgets to buy their own care services, with the launch of 13 pilot schemes this week.
The regeneration of the Thames Gateway presents a golden opportunity to rethink how public services are designed and funded, local government and communities minister David Miliband said this week.
Registered social landlords need to use imaginative methods and lateral thinking to keep track of rent arrears. Finding ways of reducing them also requires unorthodox approaches and effective use of...
Voluntary sector bodies are not just talking about public service provision. They're successfully delivering it. So why is the government so slow to back up the Third Sector with long-term contracts...
Ministers and health service managers admitted this week that action is needed to address poor standards of NHS stroke care, after government auditors said the service was failing patients.
More than 100 investigations into standards at five new private sector treatment centre providers were triggered between April 2004 and June 2005, a report for the Department of Health revealed this...
Treasury officials have dismissed as 'erroneous' a new study claiming that public sector pension liabilities have soared to more than £800bn greater than the UK's national debt.
In the 1990s, housing associations were rushing to form themselves into groups. Now the groups are queuing up to merge. Why are they doing it and is this the best way forward for housing, asks Neil...
Further education has been a 'forgotten middle child'. But now Sir Andrew Foster's wide-ranging review could give the £5bn sector a new mission to get the nation ready for work. Joseph McHugh asks...
A Yorkshire-based NHS trust repeatedly ignored Audit Commission warnings not to inflate its asset values in order to hide deficits totalling £4.5m, it emerged this week.
The 13% funding gap between English further education colleges and schools will be reduced and the problems highlighted by Sir Andrew Foster's inquiry into the FE sector will be tackled, Ruth Kelly...
Reorganised primary care trusts will go through a 'fitness for purpose' test similar to the assessment of foundation trust applicants, NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp said last week.
Local government leaders have welcomed their new responsibility to ensure there is sufficient childcare to meet the needs of working families - but warned that it needs to be backed up with adequate...
A new hospital assessment tool, launched by the Department of Health this week, will be the catalyst for 'radical change' and possible service cuts, Public Finance has been told.
The vast majority of NHS staff do not know who is responsible for eliminating hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA from their hospital, the results of a national survey have suggested.
Will the chancellor manage again to use his Treasury black arts to keep within his economic rules, or will he now have to admit that his forecasts were optimistic? The forthcoming Pre-Budget Report...
Choosing spending priorities involves some tough, painful and invariably unpopular decisions. Harrow decided to put its residents in the hot seat and invigorate democracy in the process. Maria McHale...
Rhodri Morgan is every bit as evangelical as Tony Blair when it comes to improving public services. But Wales is taking a very different route from Westminster. Steve Davies reports on public sector...
As the Local Government Association in England locked horns with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister over the forthcoming financial settlement, Welsh councils have already been told how much...
The proposed integration of CIPFA and the ICAEW fell by the tiniest of margins last week. Steve Freer examines what we can all learn from the experience
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Des Browne has the unenviable task of matching public expenditure to delivery. In his first major interview, he tells Joseph McHugh how he is tackling the brief
