Councils will be able to set their own complaints procedures for education and dispose of land at their discretion as the government begins to dismantle its overarching consent regimes.
Members judged responsible for their authority's failures could be stripped of decision-making powers and replaced by 'partnership boards' under government plans to deal with poorly performing...
The row over health care rationing escalated this week after opposition MPs said the formation of a 'citizens' council' to inform NHS drug and treatment practices was a 'sham'.
Liberal Democrat...
Regional Development Agencies should turn their attention to improving child care, according to the Trades Union Congress.
The organisation claims that Britain's productivity is suffering because...
Government plans to exempt existing care homes from controversial environmental standards could lead to a two-tier system of care for older people, claim social services chiefs.
Under the...
An end to the protracted negotiations on the new NHS pay structure may be in sight this week after an improved offer persuaded the Royal College of Nursing to stay in the talks.
Hospitals across England are responding to the introduction of NHS performance ratings by 'raising their game', although there is still room for improvement, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said this...
A cross-party report has called for the government to support 'pioneering local initiatives' as well as more realistic funding to secure the future of social care.
The government has moved to tackle bed-blocking with a series of measures designed to make social services more responsive, increase the number of available care home beds and allow more old people...
District Audit and Inspection Service functions are to be integrated for the first time under a shake-up of internal structures unveiled by the Audit Commission this week.
Whitehall departments that benefited from Gordon Brown's largesse in Monday's long-awaited Spending Review will be expected to meet 'demanding' national targets.
The Department of Health has for the first time agreed to improve the quality of care offered by the NHS in return for the billions of pounds being poured in by the Treasury over the next five years...
The Spending Review has confirmed what many expected: large increases in resources for many public services. The Budget had already told us how far the overall spending envelope would grow, and laid...
The leader of Redbridge council in London has pledged to stop a new racecourse being built in the area. Plans for the multi-million pound track at Fairlop Waters are well advanced, but newly elected...
'Sometimes the civil service is very efficient. Within five minutes of a secretary of state going, you have your redundancy papers,' says Dan Corry, the former and now infamous special adviser to...
GP practices are facing 'dire' recruitment problems and are struggling to achieve the government's modernisation agenda, according to British Medical Association GP leader Dr John Chisholm.
The Department of Health should adopt a more proactive role when the National Institute for Clinical Excellence issues recommendations on drugs or treatments, MPs said this week.
The majority of the public believe moves to allow the private and voluntary sectors as well as overseas operators to treat NHS patients will improve standards of care, according to a Mori poll for...
The National Audit Office is calling on Welsh NHS trusts to speed up the sale of surplus assets after inspectors found they took on average 50% longer than their English counterparts.
