The Liberal Democrats have demanded an immediate moratorium on all NHS Private Finance Initiative schemes and greater scrutiny of private sector involvement in the public services.
Transport unions claimed they were misled by London Underground chiefs after a company with one contract already in the bag won a second one to manage the Tube under the public-private partnership.
The public sector procurement process is excluding small businesses and is overly skewed in favour of large and well-established firms, according to a new report.
Public sector spending on IT is set to soar by 13% per annum for each of the next two years, according to a survey from Kew Associates and Computer Weekly magazine. Total spend by the public sector...
Paramilitary intimidation made 1,900 Northern Ireland families homeless last year, according to the annual report of the Housing Executive published last week.
Prime Minister Tony Blair will step into the lions' den next week when he delivers an address to the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress in Brighton.
Like the sound of English batsmen's stumps being shattered, the picture of students, especially women, celebrating ever-better A-level results has fast become one of the traditional images of our...
Final contracts that would allow the private sector preferred bidders to begin work on London Underground's deep Tube lines could be delayed by a further six months until next spring.
In what has been described as a 'near revolutionary' step, the government has reopened the debate on the unfunded police and fire pension schemes and raised the possibility of meeting pension costs...
Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers has pledged to forge a new relationship between central and local government by slashing bureaucracy and giving authorities greater financial freedom.
Peter Mandelson has outlined a vision of English devolution that puts 'people before structures' and gives communities the tools to bring about their own renaissance.
The Northern Ireland Assembly's finance and personnel committee gave a surprise endorsement to the Private Finance Initiative and other forms of public-private partnerships in a report published this...
Sir Andrew Foster will take over as head of the Best Value Inspectorate after Wendy Thomson was poached by 10 Downing Street to head up a new team advising Tony Blair on public service reform.
Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers has signalled the roll-out of local Public Service Agreements to all top-tier authorities by announcing £300m of unsupported credit approvals (UCAs) for...
Andrew Pinder, the e-envoy, has admitted to a fundamental difference of opinion with Tony Blair on the government's strategy for delivering services over the Internet.
The Local Government Association has proposed setting up an independent commission to examine the long-term future of local government finance and agree 'a fair deal' for councils.
College lecturers went on their first national strike for a decade this week, causing disruption during exam time for students at 290 colleges across England.
The Private Finance Initiative this week emerged as an unlikely and crucial general election issue with the government's record on public spending being attacked on several fronts.
Ideological differences between the main political parties on how to improve public services emerged this week as the general election campaign finally got under way.
GPs are angry that much is evident. The actions of those who on May Day closed their surgeries to all but emergency cases led family doctors to be mentioned in the same breath as the militant anti-...
