A Conservative government would dismantle the 'command state' constructed by the Labour party and radically decentralise public services, according to a policy document setting out the party's reform...
The personnel swaps between central and local government continued this week with Improvement and Development Agency deputy John O'Brien announcing his move to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Councils will have to produce just eight major service plans by 2006 after ministers unveiled details of long-awaited cuts in the number of documents that must be submitted to Whitehall.
The...
Education managers are urging Whitehall officials to undertake a rigorous analysis of the school funding reforms outlined by Education Secretary Charles Clarke to ensure there is no repeat of this...
NHS financial discipline must be tightened and deficits eradicated, Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt warned this week after a far-reaching review claimed that demand could overwhelm services in the...
The Local Government Association's hunt for a successor to Neil Kinghan has been thrown into disarray after top Treasury mandarin Adam Sharples turned down the job, Public Finance has learned....
Town hall leaders this week hit out at ministers for relegating councils to the sidelines in the rush to reform public services, and promised to 'fight for local government'.
The possibility of a merger of the ombudsman services for local authorities, central government and health has receded indefinitely, local government ombudsman Tony Redmond has complained in his...
Hopes that a deal on consultants' terms and conditions could be struck were raised this week when the new health secretary invited doctors' leaders to a meeting to discuss the way forward.
Fire authority employers have warned of further industrial strife in the wake of the plans to overhaul firefighters' working practices and service structures.
Local authorities should have the power to decide whether their tenants have the right to buy their homes in any part of their area, the Local Government Association has told MPs scrutinising the...
Education employers are to push for the abolition of the School Teachers' Review Body in an attempt to wrest back control over pay negotiations from Whitehall.
The chair of the National Employers'...
Britain's public services are dogged by poor performance and high levels of customer dissatisfaction, while critics who believe privatisation has escalated problems are using the excuse as a '...
The government 'talks the talk' on granting the public sector more local autonomy, but when problems arise it immediately reverts to its centralist tendencies, the director of the Institute for...
Lack of financial management in schools was a 'critical factor' in this year's funding crisis, the Local Government Association claimed this week.
In comments likely to further inflame the debate...
It is dramatic, to say the least: applications for asylum fell from 8,900 last October to 4,565 in March this year just as Tony Blair suggested and in line with his promise to cut the monthly...
It has had more false starts than the 1993 Grand National, but the end now finally looks in sight for the year-long firefighters' dispute.
In what has turned into a bitter test of union, central...
Ministers and doctors' leaders reached an impasse over the future of the NHS consultants' contract this week.
Amid a growing sense of crisis, the British Medical Association gave the government a...
