Social care minister Ivan Lewis has responded to last week's damning report on social care for older people by calling for a 'new, fair settlement' between the state and individuals.
Local authorities must make residents understand the connection between taxation and services, and exercise spending restraint, to reverse public anger over rising council tax, according to local...
Public sector bodies look set to face new rules and responsibilities as part of the government's attempt to cut carbon emissions. Proposals now out for consultation offer both challenges and...
The local government white paper promised a bright new future for 'radical and devolutionary reform'. But the process has already been short-circuited, argues Tim Thorogood
The local government finance regime and waste monopolies have helped to make Britain Europe's worst performer in waste recycling, experts have claimed.
A likely national strike by civil servants could spill over into the local government arena, with Whitehall's largest trade union this week threatening to disrupt May's local elections.
Hardworking and 'heroic' civil servants are being let down by a Whitehall culture that rewards failure and ignores successful individuals, a report by a leading think-tank has claimed.
The government's efficiency programme appeared to have an admirable aim until it turned out to be a crude job-cutting exercise. But managers are ready to find real efficiencies, if only ministers...
Happy New Year. If you are an adult with a disability you now have two years left to receive preventative social care that could stop your condition deteriorating further, the Local Government...
The Department of Health has admitted that the financial regime governing NHS trusts is unsustainable, yet has declined to implement an Audit Commission recommendation to correct it.
No sooner had Chancellor Gordon Brown finished adding up his promised £36bn investment in education over the next four years than the economists were asking the inevitable question: 'How much of that...
Business rates need to be brought urgently back under local government control, argues Paul Raynes. The current system is inefficient, keeps councils in bondage, involves huge, unnecessary financial...
Sir Michael Lyons' Inquiry into the future of local government has been delayed once more this time so that he can take into account the recommendations of the Barker, Eddington and Leitch reviews...
Greater user involvement in services offers the voluntary sector its best opportunity to become involved in public sector reform, according to the chief executive of the National Council for...
There's much to please local authorities in the white paper, particularly in terms of deregulation and decentralisation. But real devolution, letting councils decide local priorities, is still a long...
Town hall leaders are demanding that devolution must underpin the Bills of the next parliamentary session, as the prime minister used the last Queen's Speech of his tenure to outline a far-reaching...
Launching the report of his inquiry into local government finance in Scotland, Sir Peter Burt the current chair of ITV repeated several times what he saw as a main attraction of his proposed new...
Department of Health plans to limit the demand for hospital care by elderly people by providing better preventative community care will not work, the results of a pilot study suggest.
Far from being on its way out, the Private Finance Initiative has never been in ruder health. As well as strengthening its role in health and education, it is elbowing its way into new areas such as...
Local authorities, central government and parents must broaden their sights in the fight against antisocial behaviour and focus on prevention as well as punishment, Whitehall's 'respect' czar...
The white paper is done and dusted. Now it's time for Sir Michael Lyons to put some financial meat on the bare bones of local government reform. He should focus on capping, council tax and the...
In many ways, the NHS has never had it so good. But that's not what the public thinks. Public Finance and Deloitte convened a round table of health service policy makers and practitioners to explore...
Police authorities have reacted with anger and disappointment to the costs paid by central government following the abandonment of the police merger programme.
