Ministers this week handed local authorities £37m to encourage popular schools to expand to try to prevent the annual parental scramble to enrol children at high-performing institutions.
The government stands accused of compromising the Audit Commission's independence after Public Finance was given a document revealing that ministers intend to force immediate penalties on...
The Association of University Teachers this week rejected a two-year pay deal from the Employers' Organisation, claiming the offer was 'inadequate' and reflected a 'disregard' for the negotiating...
Universities UK has attacked Education Secretary Charles Clarke's failure to listen to their concerns over higher education funding after he rejected the findings of a committee of MPs.
Housing experts have warned ministers not to become over-reliant on the multibillion pound house-building scheme across key 'growth areas' of the Southeast announced this week, claiming it should not...
Tax increases to fund the government's programme of investment in public services have increased the average household's bill by £4,000 per year since 1997, according to a Right-wing think-tank.
The auditor general for Wales has demanded that the Welsh Assembly introduce more 'robust' procedures to ensure its audit recommendations are implemented on time, it emerged this week.
Councils will have to produce just eight major service plans by 2006 after ministers unveiled details of long-awaited cuts in the number of documents that must be submitted to Whitehall.
The...
Education managers are urging Whitehall officials to undertake a rigorous analysis of the school funding reforms outlined by Education Secretary Charles Clarke to ensure there is no repeat of this...
A strongly-worded report by the Commons Treasury committee has questioned the competence of the Inland Revenue's leaders.
MPs looked into the tax credits backlog fiasco, the unauthorised suspension...
Southwark council has named Cambridge Education Associates as the stopgap manager of its troubled education service, after consultant WS Atkins pulled out.
CEA will run the service for a year while...
Business consultant Peter Dixon is to be the new chair of the Housing Corporation. He will take over from Baroness Dean, who is standing down in October after six years in office.
Dixon, chair of...
Need a cataract operation, a hip replacement or a heart by-pass? Don't fancy the interminable wait at your local hospital? Fear not.
Within two years, according to plans announced last week by...
Businesses will be called on to make up a multibillion pound gap in the funding of the London Crossrail project, approved in principle by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling on July 14.
The line,...
Teaching unions and school standards minister David Miliband have welcomed proposals for a radical shake-up of the examinations system.
Former chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson, who...
It would seem the Department for Education and Skills has learned its lesson.
The funding allocations for schools descended into confusion and mutual recrimination earlier this year, following the...
The Department of Health is in talks to develop a bond market to allow foundation trusts to raise capital, Public Finance has learnt.
A source at the department said there had already been...
The Local Government Association's hunt for a successor to Neil Kinghan has been thrown into disarray after top Treasury mandarin Adam Sharples turned down the job, Public Finance has learned....
The government needs to target its proposed hike in higher education cash more effectively to those who need it, a Commons committee claimed this week. It also argued that plans to improve university...
Imposed targets and growing local autonomy must proceed hand-in-hand to improve public services, a study of some of England's best councils concludes.
The Improvement and Development Agency,...
Threatening to prosecute parents has caused a marked reduction in classroom truancy, the government claimed this week.
Figures from the Department for Education and Skills on July 2 showed that...
The Audit Commission has given in to pressure from council leaders and scaled back plans to increase the thresholds between performance categories when the Comprehensive Performance Assessments are...
The inquiry into the vastly over-budget Holyrood Parliament project in Edinburgh will identify the lessons to be learned for the future procurement or construction of major public buildings, First...
