A forgotten army of grandparent carers are living ‘below the poverty line and struggling to cope’, according to a report by the charity Grandparents Plus
Conservative proposals to abandon the government’s Flexible New Deal jobs programme and replace it with an untried alternative are irresponsible, Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper has said
The main parties’ health spokesmen took centre stage during the conference season. But as we head towards an election, they will need to spell out how to maintain quality while making necessary...
Education Secretary Ed Balls has hit back at MPs who tried to block his choice of a children’s commissioner, telling them they have no veto over major appointments
Forget the bonfire of the quangos, it’s managers and back-office staff who are in politicians’
line of fire now. But can layers of ‘bureaucrats’ really be taken out without harming services
on the...
A third of armed forces families say the Ministry of Defence houses they live in are in poor condition, with a quarter adding that they are also poorly maintained, according to a report
Neither the government nor the Opposition is being realistic about driving down debt, a leading economist has told senior public sector financial managers
The streamlined National Health Service in Wales faces an ‘enormous and complicated’ task in meeting expectations at a time of reduced public spending, the Welsh NHS Confederation has said
The Wales Audit Office has established itself as an authoritative voice but is at a watershed as the public sector faces a ‘major drive’ for efficiency savings, an expert panel has said
Improved financial management in the NHS has left it well placed to tackle looming economic challenges, the new care watchdog has said in its first major assessment of the health service’s performance
Environment officials have shown ‘scant regard’ for protecting public money in their administration and management of the farmers’ payment scheme in England, the National Audit Office has said
The Ministry of Defence’s programme for procuring equipment for the armed forces is ‘creaking’, according to a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee
Schools and local authorities have been accused of disregarding safety after a report found that fewer than 500 of the UK’s 32,000 schools have sprinkler systems to combat fires
Neither the government nor the Opposition are yet being realistic about driving down government debt, a leading economist has told senior public sector financial managers
A one-year public sector pay freeze, as proposed by shadow chancellor George Osborne this week, risks widening the gap between public and private sector salaries, an employment expert has warned
