Government auditors delivered some much-needed good news for the Department for Work and Pensions this week, heaping praise on its management of a Private Finance Initiative deal.
Fast-track 'learn on the job' teacher training courses are failing to meet desired standards, school inspectors said this week. The Graduate Teacher Programme pays trainees to work in a school on an...
The creation of a single inspection body for the entire criminal justice system would dilute the effectiveness of the prisons' inspectorate, its head has warned.
Unions are to challenge the government over a decision to exempt the higher and further education sectors from the 'two-tier' code to protect workers after reclassifying them as 'private sector'.
Seven more councils could be encouraged to contract out their struggling social services to other local authorities if a groundbreaking £3.6m rescue deal proves successful.
Public service reforms and their emphasis on targets, performance management and choice are to be scrutinised in a major research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Welsh confidence has been dented. The young Assembly government was determined to be different and remodel the NHS around the principle of health promotion rather than the target-driven regime...
Audit Scotland has urged the Scottish Prison Service to carry out a detailed assessment of the £30m correctional programmes for prisoners, which accounted for 12% of the cost of operating its prisons...
The extent to which ethnic groups have their differing needs met by public services is to be more closely monitored under a new race equality plan launched by the Home Office this week.
French government plans to review working practices, together with a number of pay disputes, have provoked a wave of strikes by public service workers across the country.
A Conservative government would save £35bn on government spending by 2007/08 under the spending plans outlined by Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin this week.
The long-running pay dispute at the Department for Work and Pensions could end this week after leaders of Whitehall's largest trade union endorsed a three-year deal, worth up to 15% for some staff.
Hopes that the new education secretary would water down controversial government policies were dashed last week when Ruth Kelly nailed her reformist colours firmly to the mast.
The Ministry of Defence has forced one of the government's biggest IT partners to include a last-minute 'failure' clause in its bid for a £4bn contract, following a series of Whitehall computer...
Direct funding would lead to fresh financial turmoil in schools, creating an annual national shortfall of £200m, local government leaders warned this week.
The government should take great care in linking expenditure with outcomes as there is little evidence that its extra cash has led to educational improvements, MPs warned this week.
A US-style model of care that aims to help asthma and arthritis sufferers stay out of hospital is to be rolled out across the health service this year.
Education ministers will consider extending the use of private companies to rescue failing councils' education services after inspectors gave an upbeat report on a flagship scheme in the West...
The shared inspection regime for children's services will not be examining everything from school dinners to swings in exhaustive detail, the inspector leading the programme said this week.
