The head of the powerful Public Accounts Committee of MPs has slammed health authorities and trusts for not taking seriously the threat of infections picked up by patients in hospitals.
Labour is due to give local authorities an extra £35m in this year's finance settlement but with a warning from ministers that it should be used to curb council tax increases.
Gordon Brown has huge room for manoeuvre between tax cuts, spending increases and debt repayment, according to the annual unofficial guide to the chancellor's budget options published this week by...
The government has set aside £20m to help schools introduce the new pay and performance system, schools standards minister Estelle Morris announced this week.
Finance managers have warned that the NHS could be in 'serious difficulty' if it has to fund the inflation-busting pay awards announced this week without further cash from the government.
The Department of Health has signalled a cautious start to its latest modernisation initiative, confirming that only 15 primary care trusts will be formed this year. Thirteen PCTs will be launched on...
Whether the outbreak of flu sweeping Britain is an epidemic is a moot point. Statistically, it isn't. The official figures for reported cases are little more than for January last year.
The Scottish Executive is facing a showdown with Westminster next week over the treatment of asylum seekers. Home Secretary Jack Straw is anxious to persuade Scotland to accept an extra 1,000 asylum...
The first of a rolling series of Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate reports into Welsh social services have produced a winner and a loser.
Acute shortages of social housing and the unwillingness of some councils to provide accommodation for ex-prisoners are adding to the likelihood of people reoffending after they leave prison, says a...
The Scottish Ambulance Service should introduce a multi-million pound call prioritisation service as soon as possible, the National Audit Office said this week.
There must be no let-up in health authorities' and trusts' battle to bear down on debt and meet the government's targets, NHS Executive finance director Colin Reeves said this week.
Seventeen local authorities placed under 'special measures' by the government have complained that they were treated unfairly by being named and shamed by social care minister John Hutton.
A rise of 7% has been forecast in council tax almost three times the rate of inflation in the next financial year, with householders facing an average £56 increase in their bills.
The National Association of Head Teachers has accused local education authorities of undermining school self-management and creating a dependency culture because of the way they distribute grants to...
The health service is being urged to reduce its deficit next year, even if that means postponing initiatives and cutting other services, finance managers said this week.
Rural districts are likely to benefit hugely from radical changes in the way Scotland's 15 health boards are funded. But the new system is not likely to be implemented before 2001/02, it emerged this...
The Prescription Pricing Authority has suggested setting aside its prescription backlog, wiping out two months' data, as one way of getting future prescribing information to health authorities and...
The reputation of government executive agencies has been dealt another blow this week after auditor general Sir John Bourn accused the Courts Funds Office of financial mismanagement and losing track...
