One in four councils has been running education and social services so badly that central government has had to intervene, and more cases could be on the way, according to the Audit Commission.
Charles Kennedy is attempting to forge closer ties with the trade unions and exploit widespread disenchantment with the government's management of public services.
The government's plans to overhaul the Best Value regime and introduce comprehensive performance assessments (CPA) have been lambasted by an influential local government policy organisation.
The Local Government Association and ministers are to agree a set of shared priorities for service delivery that will act as a 'coherent framework' governing councils' activities.
A sense of commitment among public sector managers and staff is vital if services are to continue to improve, the Public Services Productivity Panel said this week.
London boroughs could lose up to £250m in central government support each year unless the council tax system is fundamentally overhauled, Public Finance has learned.
The government's attempt to banish disillusionment with Best Value by overhauling the system is 'flawed' and needs more thought, a leading local government moderniser has told Public Finance .
Glasgow contains the three most deprived areas in Britain, according to a study by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) which ranks parliamentary constituencies by their levels of poverty and social...
Health Secretary Alan Milburn was this week told to stop tampering with the structure of the NHS and ignoring his own department's ten-year strategy to give staff more time to deliver his much...
An influential group of public sector leaders has thrown down the gauntlet to Tony Blair and demanded that he defend frontline workers from attacks on their professionalism.
Local government minister Nick Raynsford has confirmed that councils will be allowed to invest in money market funds, as revealed two weeks ago by Public Finance .
The Association of Police Authorities has attacked the government's Police Reform Bill for undermining local policing and threatening 'meaningful modernisation'.
Government officials are considering a fundamental reorganisation of police pensions after it was revealed that the total liability for English and Welsh forces may have leapt to £36bn.
Politicians should hand over the day-to-day running of the NHS to an arm's length corporation, according to a report from the health think-tank, the King's Fund.
NHS managers gave a qualified welcome to this week's announcement giving greater independence to the best trusts but remained sceptical over Alan Milburn's masterplan for a brave new world in the...
