Public sector employment in Scotland has risen by 11% since devolution, with the largest increase in local government, latest statistics have revealed.
All the main parties are looking to voluntary organisations to deliver more public services. Stuart Etherington warns that the sector will be wanting a lot more in return
Local and central government are under intense scrutiny, as a plethora of inquiries and reviews get set to report by the end of the year. But with near-civil war gripping the government, how likely...
Housing finance is all at sixes and sevens, what with the new DCLG secretary reassessing policies, a range of reviews and reform pilots on the go and the Comprehensive Spending Review just around...
Trade unions have vowed to fight the government's plan to outsource more than 1,650 jobs and responsibility for 25% of the NHS's non-pay spend to the German-based delivery firm DHL.
Ahead of this week's TUC conference, the chancellor has made clear there will be a 2% cap on public sector pay rises. And with NHS deficits being widely blamed on inflationary pay deals, he is...
Children's needs involve broader issues than exam results and school performance. A new inspection system assesses the way they are dealt with holistically. Shane Flynn looks at the results
'Co-production' is the latest big idea buzzing round Whitehall, with the aim of involving citizens more in the design and delivery of local public services. But, as Vivienne Russell discovered, there...
Charity supremo John Stoker has been appointed the first commissioner designate for the Compact, overseeing relationships between the government and the voluntary sector.
Local government leaders are demanding an urgent meeting with Education Secretary Alan Johnson over claims that authorities wanting to launch capital investment programmes for schools are being...
As many as one in ten local authorities might have population figures that are flawed, the senior government statistician in charge of compiling them has admitted to Public Finance .
Prime Minister Tony Blair will next week launch a new attack on social exclusion, extending help to vulnerable children and adults through existing funding, which could be boosted in this winter's...
Rural youngsters are being denied the education and training opportunities open to their urban counterparts because of accessibility problems, a leading think-tank said this week.
Contrary to popular opinion, the government has successfully used IT to transform a variety of services, from electronic payment of benefits to the Jobcentre Plus Job Bank. And the transformation...
Up to 30,000 NHS cleaning, portering and facility staff will not receive their promised Agenda for Change pay increases this year as deficit-hit hospitals have reneged on last year's joint agreement...
Spending cuts of £350m, to budgets such as public health and training, will be used to wipe out this year's forecast NHS overspend of £333m, figures published by the Department of Health reveal.
A senior member of the government's Pensions Commission is set to investigate a £350m retirement fund deficit across Britain's railways sector to help prevent national strikes on the network, Public...
The school curriculum needs to be reformed to encourage more young people to stay in education after the age of 16, the government's favourite think-tank said this week.
