Many large councils will soon be involved in carbon trading schemes as part of efforts to combat climate change. But they will need to raise awareness and improve communications if the initiative is...
Twenty-five years on from the birth of the Audit Commission, is it time for a radical rethink on public sector inspection and regulation, asks David Walker
Sickness absence costs the economy £100bn a year and the public sector needs to take a lead in managing the issue, the government's health and work czar said this week.
Vital public investment will not be sacrificed merely to avoid breaching the sustainable investment rule when International Financial Reporting Standards come into force, Alistair Darling has...
Public trust in official statistics remains low and there has been no significant change since 2005, despite the government's efforts to improve confidence, research has revealed.
The government wants us to have a big conversation about Britishness. But its proposals for probationary citizenship and symbolic ceremonies are deeply controversial with major implications for...
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has launched a draft strategy on participatory budgeting, aiming to give members of the public more say in how public money is spent.
Tucked away in last week's Budget documentation was the announcement that the government intends to set up a Public Value Programme, intended to ensure more bang for the taxpayer's buck.
John Swinney has insisted that the Scottish government's local income tax plans are 'robust' and can be delivered, despite the flood of criticism that greeted the publication of his consultation...
Peter Robinson is happy to talk about his work as Northern Ireland finance minister. But Ian Paisley's resignation means he's going to have to face up to that succession question very soon, says Paul...
Benefits reform is back centre stage, with new get-tough policies for a part-privatised jobs service. The welfare czar talks to Judy Hirst about breaking the dependency habit
A new system of regulatory budgets for Whitehall departments, setting out the cost of regulations that could be introduced in a given period, would be 'a world first', the government has claimed.
Scots would get their biggest tax cut in a generation under the Scottish National Party government's plans for a local income tax, Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed.
Next week's statement will be a severe test for the chancellor. There's a squeeze on spending and no appetite for tax rises, so what are Alistair Darling's options? PF convened a round table of...
John Swinney has achieved the impossible twice in his first nine months as Scotland's finance secretary. But can the former Scottish National Party leader score a much-needed hat trick? He talked...
Environmental campaigners have urged the government to put climate change at the heart of next week's Budget, as a report by MPs warned that the Treasury was failing to act quickly enough on green...
The Treasury's expert accountancy advisers have backed delaying central government's implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards by a year, because two key departments cannot meet...
The government's promise to halve child poverty by 2010 will not be achieved unless significant resources are made available, according to a report by MPs on the Commons work and pensions select...
Northern Ireland's four main publicly owned ports will cease to be public corporations under proposals to allow them the freedom to borrow privately without it being counted as public sector debt.
If the third sector is to achieve its potential as a supplier of goods and services, it must change its attitude to procurement in a fundamental way; the public sector must look at its mind-set...
