Councils have warned that central government aspirations for a 100% increase in town hall cashable efficiency savings are unachievable without cuts in local services.
Ministers have quickly rejected key recommendations from Sir Michael Lyons' review of local government, including a revaluation of property prices and an end to capping.
More than £12bn of public funds is spent every year on support for small business but to what effect? A Conservative Party task force found the programmes to be ineffective, bureaucratic and...
Sir Michael Lyons this week denied that his proposed overhaul of town hall funding would initiate massive hikes in council taxes on expensive homes, and revealed that a long-term plan would accompany...
Ministers and councillors should have more direct control over quangos and arm's-length bodies, Tom McCabe, Scotland's finance minister, has suggested.
Unacceptable race inequalities persist in mental health services despite the injection of £16m of public funds committed to tackling the problem, campaigners said this week.
Number 10's online road-pricing e-petition was a huge hit. Not in terms of the likely fate of that policy but because it encouraged nearly 2 million people to put their point of view. Not a bad...
Town hall leaders have backed MPs' calls for more funding and financial powers to be devolved to councils to help strengthen major cities' transport infrastructure.
NHS watchers turning to the service's third-quarter financial report last week were bemused. Despite Department of Health claims that NHS finances were more transparent than ever, no fewer than three...
A report published last week summarises the state of social housing and offers some solutions to the dilemmas the sector faces. But it promises no quick solutions to a complex set of problems
Ministers would set the education and community care budgets of every council in Scotland and take responsibility for managing these services under a radical plan drawn up by a leading civil servant.
The funding system for adult social care is unsustainable and undesirable and should be replaced with an 'Every Older Person Matters' programme, central and local government leaders have said.
The NHS will improve on its 2005/06 deficit of £547m by just £110m, a Department of Health report has forecast, despite staff cutbacks and rationing of patient services.
The government's failure to measure population mobility is costing councils in London £100m a year in lost funding for services, according to a study from the London School of Economics.
It's the end of the line for a lot of regulatory red tape in local government as Peter Rogers prepares to slash more than 60 Whitehall-controlled areas down to five. He explains his role
Government health watchdogs have criticised the 'disgraceful' lack of co-ordinated effort in reducing the number of children who have to be taken to hospital following preventable injury.
Most policies are made at a national level and do not reflect England's true economic geography, which is at city or council level. Local optimisation means there must be more local decision-making
Rural regeneration was once top of the in-tray at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But other political priorities are preoccupying ministers, and public services in the...
Central government claims that there is no more money to fund adult social care 'ring hollow' as it is withholding an extra £1bn from the 2007/08 local government grant, councils have said.
Public bodies are well versed in EU procurement rules, which require various services to be put out to tender. But recent European Court judgments have muddied the water. Norman Ballantyne explains
Despite record levels of investment, the public sector is seen to be in crisis. This is because services are suffering from having simplistic market models foisted on them, argues Unison's general...
Should the chief financial officer always be on a council's top management team? CIPFA's vice-president gives his views on the subject that has been exercising PF readers in recent weeks
Councils with social care responsibilities are anticipating increasing council tax by an average of just 3.6% in 2007/08 a 1% drop on last year despite claiming a funding 'crisis' for adult care...
