The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is one half of the most challenging education upheaval yet. Will it provide firm foundations for further and higher education and boost the UK...
A report this month showed that councils are still dragging their feet when it comes to trading and charging. Even the government is getting exasperated at their refusal to make the most of their...
Whitehall departments are undermining devolution to town halls by attempting to introduce surreptitious targets for local services despite government promises to slash central diktats.
Welsh local authorities have a tough housing standard to meet and only one real way of paying for it: transferring their stock to an RSL. It's not a popular policy, especially for councils whose...
Despite the rhetoric, the public sector is still handcuffed by bureaucracy and targets. A better solution is performance contracting, which has worked in prisons and has the power to bring creativity...
From public sector productivity to migration, official statistics have rarely been so hotly contested. Tony Travers analyses the reasons for the party-political punch-ups
Local government minister John Healey has revealed 11 areas that will act as 'troubleshooters' for the introduction of new partnerships to improve local services under Whitehall's devolution agenda.
Candidates standing for local elections are still overwhelmingly white, male and over 55, according to a new survey by the Improvement and Development Agency.
The director of finance of the Welsh Assembly Government has come under fire following what council leaders described as an 'appalling' settlement for councils.
A flagship government policy aimed at encouraging GPs to shape local NHS services through a beefed-up commissioning role is struggling to take off, the Audit Commission has found.
Star ratings could give way to a traffic-light system of inspection, it emerged this week as public service watchdogs set out proposals for a radical revamp of the local inspection regime.
Plans to improve thousands of council homes in London and Southeast England could be further delayed by skills shortages ahead of the 2012 Olympics, ministers are being told.
Private contractors providing welfare services could be subjected to a ratings system similar to that used for councils and NHS trusts, under government plans to tackle unemployment and poverty.
The UK dumps more household waste into landfill than any other European Union country and faces onerous fines if it doesn't clean up its act, the Local Government Association has warned.
Welsh council leaders hit out at an 'inadequate' settlement for local government this week, warning that council tax rises and service cuts would be inevitable.
Wales has rejected the Blair-led notion that the private sector should be a major service provider. Andrew Davies, minister for finance and public service delivery, talks to Alex Klaushofer about...
Eradicating hospital infections is not just about intensive cleaning. The ways in which demanding targets have been reached might be a cause of the problem and amount to false economies. Noel...
More than 40% of benefit claimants who enter work are back on the dole within six months, auditors have reported, casting doubt on ministers' plans to get millions more people into sustainable...
