The creation of a single inspection body for the entire criminal justice system would dilute the effectiveness of the prisons' inspectorate, its head has warned.
Campaigners called on the government to clarify responsibility for funding cancer services this week after a report highlighted significant variations in death rates.
Seven more councils could be encouraged to contract out their struggling social services to other local authorities if a groundbreaking £3.6m rescue deal proves successful.
Welsh confidence has been dented. The young Assembly government was determined to be different and remodel the NHS around the principle of health promotion rather than the target-driven regime...
Primary care trusts will be forced to set up their own on-line booking services for hospital appointments to overcome GPs' reluctance and meet government targets on Patient Choice, their...
The extent to which ethnic groups have their differing needs met by public services is to be more closely monitored under a new race equality plan launched by the Home Office this week.
Direct funding would lead to fresh financial turmoil in schools, creating an annual national shortfall of £200m, local government leaders warned this week.
Reform of public sector pensions looks set to destroy any hopes the government had of an easy ride up to the general election, with unions agreeing on a national day of campaigning next month.
The Department of Health has denied that ministers are postponing a key element of the NHS payment by results system because it could have put trusts' financial problems under the general election...
Northern Ireland's district councils should be given a general power of competence, according to a report on the public health function in the province. The study was commissioned by the Department...
The government should take great care in linking expenditure with outcomes as there is little evidence that its extra cash has led to educational improvements, MPs warned this week.
A US-style model of care that aims to help asthma and arthritis sufferers stay out of hospital is to be rolled out across the health service this year.
Bradford's foundation trust was considering a legal challenge against the removal of its chair this week as relations with its regulator reached crisis point.
Councils were given an early Christmas present this week, when they were told they would no longer be responsible for finding £3bn in schools' and police authority savings called for in the Gershon...
The irony of Dame Janet Smith's fifth report from her long-running Harold Shipman inquiry, which last week recommended a comprehensive overhaul of the General Medical Council, is that it has little...
The government awarded a contract for five more private sector treatment centres this week, despite anecdotal evidence that patients are unhappy with the initiative.
Two-thirds of councils are now 'excellent' or 'good' after 52 surged up the rankings when the Audit Commission published its Comprehensive Performance Assessments on December 16.
All children's services, from playgroups to prisons, are to be subject to a radical joint inspection regime under proposals announced by Ofsted this week.
The Gershon efficiency review will contribute to growth of almost 50% in the UK public sector outsourcing market over the next three years, it was predicted this week.
The new NHS payment-by-results hospital funding system should be used in mental health care but its introduction must be gradual, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health said this week.
