Local authorities are vulnerable to a legal challenge that their outsourced services breach new European Union rules designed to avoid the overpayment of contractors, Public Finance has learnt.
The government is on track to achieve its 2008 waiting time target but it must do more to ensure poorer people get access to care, the King's Fund said this week.
A democracy needs to be sure that the figures on which decisions are made are accurate and do not mask a hidden agenda. The Statistics Commission chair would like to see safeguards enshrined in law
For all the talk of a dramatic urban renaissance, population flight from Britain's city centres to suburbia and the countryside continues apace. Tony Travers explains what needs to be done to reverse...
Sir Gus O'Donnell is soon to take over the Whitehall hot seat newly vacated by Sir Andrew Turnbull. Will he follow in his reforming steps or take a different path? Mark Conrad finds out
Social care services might soon be opened to regulatory competition from across the European Union, if the Department of Trade and Industry gets its way, Public Finance has learnt.
NHS managers will not know what hit them. Despite government assurances that there would be no significant reorganisation following the general election,
The Department of Health has abandoned plans to publish a white paper on adult social care, opting instead to incorporate it into broader proposals on integrated health and social care services...
The head of the government body set up to encourage private investment in primary care trust accommodation has confirmed that the government is 'pushing' the initiative as a way of increasing private...
The Scottish Parliament's health committee is to conduct an inquiry into the Executive's flagship legislation which provides free personal care for the elderly.
The CBI is warning the government that 'short termism' in its procurement practices is preventing external service providers from bidding for contracts and undermining provision, Public Finance has...
You wouldn't know it, but the NHS Plan had its fifth birthday this week. There were no celebrations and ministers ignored the occasion. So what ever happened to this 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity...
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has pledged to continue the market reforms in the NHS by opening further sectors to private sector competition and increasing patient 'voice' within the system.
England's councils could exceed their £1.2bn efficiency target for 2005/06, according to a comprehensive study of 152 local authorities by IPF, the commercial arm of CIPFA.
I think I feel a primary care shake-up coming on. The government is finally turning its attention from hospitals to family doctor services, says Noel Plumridge. Its mission? To bring back patient-...
The director of the Centre for Cities is using skills honed at the Treasury to focus on the economic and commercial drivers of urban development. Will Hatchett reports
A crackdown on racketeering and deceit against the health service has saved £675m and cut patient fraud by 54% in the past seven years, the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service said this...
Public sector organisations lag far behind their private sector counterparts when it comes to accurate and timely financial reporting, auditors said this week.
David Blunkett has signalled his scepticism over claims by a number of organisations that the bedrock of a reformed pensions system should be more generous and non-means tested state provision.
