An independent audit of NHS progress under Labour has put into perspective emotive headlines about the health service, the NHS Confederation said this week.
District councils in Northern Ireland could be reduced from 26 to seven and given new legal powers under proposals published by the Review of Public Administration.
The government's election supremo, Alan Milburn, will reveal the full cost to taxpayers of his Cabinet role following an approach from the National Audit Office.
The chancellor is pledged to a surplus of revenues over current spending in any economic cycle. But with the cycle ending in 2005/06 it looks increasingly unlikely that he will be able to achieve...
The MRSA superbug has struck fear into the hearts of hospital patients throughout the UK. But now, with an election expected, the government claims the health service is winning its battle against...
The Private Finance Initiative has not gone away it's just adapted to meet changing times. Mark Hellowell explores the opportunities and pitfalls in the new areas that the programme is expanding...
Directly elected mayors were once ministerial flavour of the month but the policy was resoundingly rejected by voters. Now, even John Prescott has converted to the idea. David Harding reports
Unpublished research by the Conservative party has found that rural and smaller primary schools are resorting to 'drastic measures' to meet the national workload agreement, Tim Collins has told...
Gordon Brown heralded root-and-branch reforms to the regulation of public services as he used his Budget statement to announce plans to slash the number of inspectorates from 11 to four.
The record equal pay settlement at North Cumbria Acute NHS Trust is 'unlikely to be replicated elsewhere', employers have warned, despite Unison this week gearing up for the prospect of similar...
Conservative efficiency plans are robust and the full financial burdens of scrapping 168 quangos and laying off 235,000 staff have been built into the party's £35bn savings target, according to...
Doctors have warned that limits must be set on the health service's use of the private sector, putting them in direct opposition to both Labour and the Conservatives.
A major report into the financial health of the NHS by two senior government watchdogs might be held back until after the general election, it emerged this week.
Scotland's devolved administration has shown how it intends to keep right on to the end of the road and how much the journey is likely to cost Scottish taxpayers.
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...
Scottish patients have the UK's shortest waiting times for the diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease, according to the latest government statistics.
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...
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
