A surge in new medical treatments combined with an ageing population mean the demands on the NHS are set to rise just as it faces a financial squeeze. A co-payments system, with built-in protection...
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...
'The LGA's 'root and branch' review of its work needs to urge the association away from its comfort zone in the Whitehall village, argue George Jones and John Stewart. Instead it should prioritise...
Local government needs to be bold if it is to make the most of the opportunities presented by Local Area Agreements, a senior manager in the sector said last week.
The economic case for joint working in the public sector must be clearly established before plans for shared services are implemented, leading finance officials in Scotland have advised.
It's one thing to demand that local authorities prove they have achieved desired outcomes, but quite another to do it. Arthur Midwinter argues for a more realistic approach to performance measurement...
MPs and campaigners have warned that proposed changes to the way government processes freedom of information requests could seriously weaken the effectiveness of the legislation.
English cities should be empowered to drive forward their own economic plans, with greater control over transport, planning and skills, according to government-commissioned research.
The DoH claims that 'reconfiguration' of NHS services is all about improving clinical care. Critics says it's just to balance the books. Either way there are widespread protests against hospital...
Seventy per cent of senior civil servants could develop advanced financial management skills under Treasury proposals to prevent the sort of budget problems experienced by NHS trusts.
You can't put a price on education but you can do a lot to narrow the gap between the best- and worst-off pupils. Tash Shifrin reports on efforts to involve the private sector in raising school...
A future Conservative government should curtail school selection and establish a 'very different agenda' to the vouchers policy on which the party fought the last election, shadow education secretary...
Whitehall departments should look upon their fledgling inspection regime as an opportunity to learn and improve, the new finance chief at the Department for Education and Skills said this week.
Northern Ireland's finance department has begun procurement for the supply of 'Network NI' a managed, wide-area network that ministers say is central to the modernisation of public services.
New nuclear reactors the clean, green answer to the UK's growing energy problems, or expensive, hazardous white elephants? The government appears to have made its mind up, and is rewriting local...
The Lyons Inquiry will have to find a way to make council tax fairer without the benefit of a revaluation of English homes. Peter Kenway and Ines Newman go back to basic principles and explain how...
The Conservatives have not just got a new logo but a brand new set of policies. Both might be a bit sketchy, but have they got the potential to grow into something more meaningful? Alex Klaushofer...
Gordon Brown's plans to devolve more executive power offer a real chance of opening up debate over government spending, starting with the Comprehensive Spending Review. But Colin Talbot somehow...
As the Labour Party gathers for a tumultuous annual conference, Madeleine Bunting and Simon Parker ask what almost ten years of Blairism has really meant for public services. And how can New Labour...
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has removed the symbolic ceiling on private sector involvement in the NHS but has also conceded an important element of finance policy that experts say will curtail...
Local and central government are under intense scrutiny, as a plethora of inquiries and reviews get set to report by the end of the year. But with near-civil war gripping the government, how likely...
Certain services and lower-value contracts have always been exempt from the European Union's procurement directive. But fresh guidance now requires even these to be publicly advertised
Ahead of this week's TUC conference, the chancellor has made clear there will be a 2% cap on public sector pay rises. And with NHS deficits being widely blamed on inflationary pay deals, he is...
