The Office for National Statistics has been forced to scale back long-delayed plans to modernise the systems used to produce the National Accounts following warnings from the Bank of England
Whatever happened to that brave new political dawn? Things really did get better but, as New Labour gathers for its last conference before the election, the public couldn’t be less grateful. Demos’s...
Government ministers have hit back at the Conservatives over the state of the public finances ahead of the Labour Party conference, where the issue of future spending cuts is likely to take centre...
Scotland’s permanent secretary, Sir John Elvidge, has ordered a fundamental review of the ‘effectiveness and affordability’ of the Scottish Government and its agencies, prompting union fears that it...
money by scrapping almost all central government regulation and devolving power to frontline services have provoked anger in the Audit Commission and been dismissed by experts
This year’s conference season will be dominated by cuts - uncomfortable ground for Labour. Far from providing a policy platform, it might only highlight the government’s problems
The government does not adequately support the role of carers in society and the financial benefits carers receive are ‘unnecessarily complex and cause confusion’, MPs have said
Government departments should be benchmarked against private sector organisations and staff should be performance-managed, according to a report by MPs
Growing public dissatisfaction with roads and highways can be resolved only by setting up a government-run bank for infrastructure projects, the Institution of Civil Engineers has said
A growing student population, increased demand for courses and a new government processing agency ill-equipped to cope are to blame for the student loans fiasco, according to the National Union of...
Northern Ireland's new finance minister is not a typical politician. A motorcycle enthusiast, he is relaxed, informal and very un-PC. Paul Gosling asks him to map out his plans for the road ahead
Leaked government figures reveal that Treasury officials planned the ‘tightest squeeze’ on public services spending since Britain was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund in the 1970s,...
Savings of £50bn a year can be made through cutting ‘non-performing schemes’, ‘over-extended government’ and ‘cutting out the middleman’, according to a report out today
A quarter of all government spending is on goods and services provided by third parties but the public sector is still poor at managing suppliers. In these difficult times, organisations need to get...
Public sector unions are gearing up to face
the prospect of inevitable spending cuts after the general election. Next week’s TUC conference will indicate how far they will go
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has challenged governments to invest in education to ensure an effective recovery from the global recession
The government must continue to devolve power to sub-regions and local authorities if it is to succeed in harnessing the ‘untapped potential’ in these areas, a think-tank has urged
