As Peter Hain reflects on the end of his ministerial career, he can at least console himself that he oversaw the re-establishment of devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Public sector agencies are bearing the brunt of 'round-the-clock drinking and gambling'. But Gordon Brown seems to have lost his earlier resolve to reverse the newly liberalised laws. Peter...
The 'use of resources' element of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment has led to a dramatic improvement in council services. But it won't be stopping there. In fact, it's set to play an even...
The Liberal Democrats' new leader, Nick Clegg, has advocated a new type of publicly funded school, in his first speech on public services since being elected to the top job.
The Parliamentary commissioner for standards, John Lyon, has confirmed that he is to launch an investigation into the funding row involving Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain following a...
The government's Children's Plan sets out an ambitious vision for raising educational standards. Here, schools minister Jim Knight explains how a new approach to commissioning can help local...
Up to 110,000 vulnerable children face an uncertain future because they are caught in a backlog of asylum applications that might not be cleared until 2011, children's charity Barnardo's has warned...
Charities campaigning against child poverty have thrown their weight behind a think-tank report that highlights Labour's failure to help poor children from working families.
Where next for the IPPR? Judy Hirst talks to its new co-directors about a more consensual style of politics and why two thinking heads are better than one
The government's £1bn ten-year Children's Plan, setting out a strategy for education, welfare and play, has received a cautious welcome from education professionals.
The government's high-profile campaign to halve child poverty by 2010 came under stinging criticism last week as two reports cast serious doubt on its ability to meet the target.
The CBI has hit out at government mismanagement of public procurement, which it warns is threatening ministers' ambitious plans for reforming frontline services.
English councils outside the capital are set to clash with their London counterparts as local authorities scrabble for resources in a tight fiscal climate.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is one half of the most challenging education upheaval yet. Will it provide firm foundations for further and higher education and boost the UK...
There are big ambitions for the Comprehensive Area Assessment: for it to judge how well councils are serving their communities, and for it to be a more nimble form of inspection than its predecessor...
Whitehall departments are undermining devolution to town halls by attempting to introduce surreptitious targets for local services despite government promises to slash central diktats.
From public sector productivity to migration, official statistics have rarely been so hotly contested. Tony Travers analyses the reasons for the party-political punch-ups
Parents of up to 1 million children living in disability-related poverty will be subjected to tougher benefit tests next year, under plans to get 20,000 incapacitated people back into work.
The director of finance of the Welsh Assembly Government has come under fire following what council leaders described as an 'appalling' settlement for councils.
More than 40% of benefit claimants who enter work are back on the dole within six months, auditors have reported, casting doubt on ministers' plans to get millions more people into sustainable...
