Almos are the popular answer for cash-strapped councils wanting to upgrade their homes without hiving them off. But their powers are limited compared with housing associations. John Perry explains...
As the political parties compete for the most radical cuts to red tape before the election, they are turning their magnifying glasses on to regulation and inspection. While a pruning is overdue, it...
The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury is unafraid to speak of huge Whitehall cuts in his plan for better public services. Joseph McHugh heard his battle strategy
Is our system of government in terminal decline, obsessed by spin and central control? Sir Christopher Foster, a former adviser to both Labour and Tory ministers, thinks so. He uses privatisation of...
Housing associations must fight off further bureaucracy while continuing to influence policymaking, according to the new chief executive of the National Housing Federation.
Schools and colleges are not doing enough to ensure that they purchase everything from photocopiers to supply teachers cost-effectively, according to the man heading education's procurement...
Despite the government's insistence that all public sector organisations should introduce regional wage variations, 'very little concrete action has been taken', a new report on pay indicates.
The Scottish Executive has published its first infrastructure investment plan, setting out a long-term, multibillion-pound scheme for improving Scotland's public services.
Red tape could derail government plans to send disaffected young people out into the workplace to acquire new skills and motivation, business leaders have warned.
Local authorities are losing millions of pounds in council tax revenue each year because of inadequate collection systems, according to a study by the GMB trade union.
It is 25 years since the 1980s political satire, Yes, Minister, first hit our screens. But its portrayal of the senior civil service's success in resisting ministerial reforms is probably even more...
Public services in Scotland are delivered as part of a patchwork operation that is starting to fray. Minister Tom McCabe is stitching together a reform package that might begin with a reorganisation...
Foundation schools are being talked up as the next big thing in education. But will fast-tracking them mean more parent choice and school autonomy or a dangerous lack of accountability and...
Beefing up city and county regions might paradoxically be the most effective way of putting the local into 'new localism' in the twenty-first century, argues Gerry Stoker
Having overseen the Department of Health's 'big bang' NHS policies, Andy McKeon now scrutinises their impact from an Audit Commission standpoint. Karen Day spoke to him
Neighbourhood boards are the latest big idea for getting the public to improve the services they use. But will this US invention work here, asks Chris Skelcher
If the forthcoming social care green paper avoids spelling out the cost of long-term care for older people, Sir Derek Wanless's review is likely to be less coy, argues Paul Gosling
