The controller of the Audit Commission has hit out at the government for pressurising the watchdog to penalise certain councils in the Comprehensive Performance Assessments published last December...
A deal struck by mayor Ken Livingstone with Labour at the Greater London Authority will mean a £51 hike in his share of Londoners' council tax this year.
Under the mayor's 2003/04 spending plans,...
New freedoms to enable patients to get speedier treatment must be backed up with extra support for elderly and vulnerable patients, according to Help the Aged.
This week Health Secretary Alan...
The reward for pharmacists in England and Wales informing on benefit fraudsters has gone up sevenfold. Under an initiative announced this week, they will now be able to claim a £70 reward, up from £...
Teachers will leave the profession if the government imposes the 2.9% pay rise recommended by the School Teachers' Review Body last week, the National Union of Teachers has warned.
The union...
The permanent secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department was forced to apologise to MPs this week after admitting that he misled them over the progress of the Libra IT project.
Sir Hayden...
Westminster City Council warned that it was on a 'collision course' with the Office for National Statistics this week as the row over census data escalated with the publication of the final local...
The Treasury has opened its doors to the prospect of allowing councils to raise and control more funds locally, according to Paul Boateng, the chief secretary to the Treasury .
Tax rises of up to £11bn a year could be needed to finance government spending plans, according to forecasts published this week by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies.
A decade-long catalogue of failures by the Lord Chancellor's Department and a private contractor has turned what should have been a straightforward IT scheme into arguably 'the shoddiest Private...
Gordon Brown's public sector spending plans were dealt a potential blow this week when it was revealed that the chancellor had exceeded his £20bn annual borrowing forecasts with three months left of...
Education Secretary Charles Clarke's plan for the reform of higher education will create a two-tier system that constrains the very people the government intended to benefit the most, according to...
The finance director who says he was sacked by St George's Healthcare NHS Trust in London for whistle-blowing has lost his first attempt to win his job back.
As the Fire Brigades Union heads towards a resumption of its strike programme, Prime Minister Tony Blair has maintained his tough stance, saying the stoppages are 'wrong, dangerous and unjustified'.
Local government leaders and ministers will shortly agree the terms of reference for the long-awaited balance of funding review, allowing work finally to get under way.
A Liberal Democrat MP is demanding an inquiry after the finance director of St George's NHS Trust in London was sacked because of his 'management style'.
Local authorities are protesting to the government after having their budgets for housing investment cut. While total housing expenditure is increasing by 6% in 2003/04, some councils are worse off...
Local government leaders have gone on the offensive over this year's finance settlement amid fears that increases in education funding could mean other services are starved of cash.
Westminster City Council is on the brink of launching legal action against the government's registrar general after allegations that the 2001 census was wildly inaccurate.
Gordon Brown has vigorously rejected suggestions that the government's performance targets are hindering rather than helping efforts to improve public services.
Average council tax bills in London are likely to top £1,000 if Mayor Ken Livingstone's estimated cost of policing the capital in the wake of heightened terrorism fears is accepted by the London...
