Elderly people and their carers should be given the flexibility to use personal social care budgets to fund gardening or cleaning services, care minister Ivan Lewis has urged.
Too many NHS trusts still have weak financial management systems that fail to produce the data required to underpin effective performance across the health service, a senior health regulator has...
The minority Scottish National Party administration at Holyrood is facing further problems over its plans for a local income tax after admitting that tens of thousands of students could be liable to...
Do the government's abysmal poll ratings spell New Labour's decline and fall? Tony Travers says the PM's only way back is to trust the people and devolve power particularly in the public services
The Scottish Government's plan for a local income tax has suffered a further setback after claims by a leading professor of law that it 'almost certainly' breaches the European Charter of Local Self-...
The Scottish Government should be given the same borrowing powers as local authorities, Finance Secretary John Swinney has told a parliamentary committee.
The near-revolt over the 10p tax band reveals how Parliament is beginning to exercise its powers to scrutinise government's tax and spending plans a development vital to democracy, argues Colin...
The economic downturn has heightened business concerns about the new supplementary business rate, the British Chambers of Commerce has told Public Finance .
Ten years of bold reforms and massive investment have failed to have any measurable impact on reducing youth offending, says an authoritative new study.
A change in the way gross domestic product is calculated could get the government off the hook as its fiscal rules are threatened by worsening economic forecasts, experts have suggested.
NHS leaders and experts have defended an apparent end-of-year spending bonanza, without which the health service's surplus for 2007/08 could have vastly outstripped the £1.8bn figure set by the...
John Healey has signalled a possible major expansion in the role of Local Area Agreements, suggesting they might become the principal mechanism through which central government commissions local...
A year on from the publication of his report into local government, Sir Michael Lyons tells PF he is disappointed that more progress has not been made. Joseph McHugh reports
A public sector anti-fraud initiative that has detected millions of pounds in benefits overpayments and some 'blatant and shocking' fraud is to be expanded to Whitehall departments this year.
Official statistics on economic productivity have disclosed the extent to which the British economy is concentrated in the Southeast, prompting fears that the gap between regions might have increased...
With the main political parties all committed to the academies programme, there is a danger of over-expansion, says James Crabtree. Are there more cost-effective solutions to poor educational...
The prime minister has set out 'radical' plans to 'put more power in the hands of patients' treated by the NHS, as a Healthcare Commission hospital patient survey revealed wide variations in patient...
The public finances will be left in increasing disarray next year as a result of Chancellor Alistair Darling's May 13 decision to borrow £2.7bn to fund a tax cut for low- and middle-income households...
