Local authorities have attacked the Audit Commission's 'unacceptable' plan to hike its audit fees by up to a third by 2011 and are fighting a last-ditch battle to kill off the proposals.
All local authorities will be expected to prepare their annual accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards from April 2010, CIPFA has announced.
Healthcare Commission chair Sir Ian Kennedy has hit out at plans to merge his organisation with two other regulatory bodies, warning MPs that the move could 'set back development of a culture of...
Campaigners have welcomed government plans to radically transform care and support for elderly and disabled people by extending the system of personalised payments.
Local government minister John Healey has urged councils to look beyond the 'here and now' and face up to some of the long-term, deep-rooted problems that affect their communities.
Council leaders and ministers this week committed to a new relationship which moves closer to recognising central and local government as equal partners in service delivery.
Another day, another departmental disaster: can't the government get anything right? Colin Talbot takes an unseasonal swipe at civil service blunders and asks what's behind Whitehall's annus...
Love it or loathe it, the PFI has been a part of the public sector for more than a decade. But with changes in government policies and in its accounting treatment, what future, if any, does it have...
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is one half of the most challenging education upheaval yet. Will it provide firm foundations for further and higher education and boost the UK...
A report this month showed that councils are still dragging their feet when it comes to trading and charging. Even the government is getting exasperated at their refusal to make the most of their...
English councils outside the capital are set to clash with their London counterparts as local authorities scrabble for resources in a tight fiscal climate.
Star ratings could give way to a traffic-light system of inspection, it emerged this week as public service watchdogs set out proposals for a radical revamp of the local inspection regime.
Whitehall departments are undermining devolution to town halls by attempting to introduce surreptitious targets for local services despite government promises to slash central diktats.
Despite the rhetoric, the public sector is still handcuffed by bureaucracy and targets. A better solution is performance contracting, which has worked in prisons and has the power to bring creativity...
The Local Government Association has rejected a Conservative plan to force councils to hold referendums if they want approval for high council tax increases.
The UK dumps more household waste into landfill than any other European Union country and faces onerous fines if it doesn't clean up its act, the Local Government Association has warned.
Local government leaders' eyes are firmly fixed on the detail of the forthcoming Revenue Support Grant for some certainty on exactly where the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement has left them.
The Scottish government is examining an alternative method of funding public sector projects such as schools and hospitals after being told by the Treasury that it has no powers to replace public-...
Ways to cope with the economic and social implications of an ageing society are at last on the government's to-do list. Public Finance and Deloitte convened a round table of politicians and policy...
The government wants neighbourhoods and communities to run more services. But with an eye-wateringly tight local government financial settlement, how will this be funded? Peter Hetherington...
