Chief Secretary to the Treasury Des Browne has the unenviable task of matching public expenditure to delivery. In his first major interview, he tells Joseph McHugh how he is tackling the brief
Further demanding targets for efficiency savings beyond the Gershon programme will be at the heart of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Cabinet minister masterminding it has told Public...
Most of the Revenue & Customs department's 100,000 staff are to receive pay rises of 3%-4% each year until 2008 under a new deal that will eradicate large wage disparities.
Never one to shrink from a challenge, David Blunkett has taken the incapacity benefit bit between his teeth. Judy Hirst reports on the work and pensions secretary's controversial measures to get...
Water companies' services are almost perfect, says the regulator. But with almost 4,000 million litres of water wasted through burst pipes and leakages every day, David Meilton begs to differ
Managers in the public sector came under fire from a leading economist at the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers annual conference this week.
A union representing NHS managers has called for guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies as ambulance trusts, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts are reorganised.
Sunday is a day of rest and dread if you run a public body. For, come Monday, you know you have to run a gauntlet of inspectors, auditors, MPs and others who all have something to say about your...
Civil servants need to get out more and they are. Now middle managers are going to the private sector while its high flyers join Whitehall. Maria McHale meets the change-makers
It's the biggest shake-up in social care for 30 years, with seamless children's services at its core. But already boundary disputes and rows about funding are spoiling the party
Becoming more efficient isn't an end in itself for local authorities. By improving the way they do things, councils can concentrate more on their main job managing resources and services in the...
A study saying that England's pensions crisis has been overstated makes the 'unrealistic' assumption that thousands of pensioners would sell their homes for retirement income, experts have claimed.
Private Finance Initiative credits worth £125m awarded this week will provide incentives for working with the voluntary, health and private sectors, care services minister Liam Byrne has told Public...
An independent scrutiny group has been set up by the Scottish Executive to review its expenditure and ensure budgets are meeting priorities across all departments.
Ministers have left ample scope to opt out of implementing two-tier workforce agreements across the public sector, despite pledging to end pay variations for transferred staff, a leading academic has...
Despite record sums of money being injected into the NHS, trusts are still struggling to balance the books, with deficits running into millions of pounds. So what is going on? Seamus Ward tries to...
At first sight, the plan to cut down the public sector inspectorates from 11 to four seems sensible. But a closer look shows there is method in the seeming madness of the current messy, overlapping...
The council tax issue is not going to go away, says Tony Travers. The government might have postponed the revaluation but this won't stop the annual rises and accompanying protests. It's time to take...
The construction industry this week issued a surprising call for more targets and red tape as representatives called attention to the slow rate of progress on public sector building projects.
Public service unions are vowing to step up their opposition to the government's controversial reform programme after bloodying ministers' noses over pensions and the NHS at the Labour Party...
Scottish Finance Minister Tom McCabe this week launched a counter-attack against the wave of criticism of the Executive's £1.2bn efficient government initiative.
As the Conservatives gear up for their Blackpool conference next week, they face their most important leadership contest in more than 40 years. Philip Johnston analyses the policies behind the beauty...
