The funding system for adult social care is unsustainable and undesirable and should be replaced with an 'Every Older Person Matters' programme, central and local government leaders have said.
The NHS will improve on its 2005/06 deficit of £547m by just £110m, a Department of Health report has forecast, despite staff cutbacks and rationing of patient services.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has defended its private finance programme for waste disposal, saying that councils are better protected from risk.
Northern Ireland's 26 district councils have fixed their rates for 2007/08 the first to be based on properties' capital values as at January 2005 rather than nominal rental values.
A council heavily criticised in a watchdog report has become the first in Scotland to cut its council tax since local government was reorganised in 1996.
Ministers will this week assure MPs that legislation will be amended to ensure that NHS trusts are required to work with councils to meet locally agreed targets.
An acute shortage of social housing is reducing tenants' mobility and failing to offer them an incentive to find work, says a government-commissioned review.
Whitehall's attempts at consultation leave a lot to be desired. But effective policy-making can only be achieved when there is a genuine process of engagement with all the different parties involved
Holyrood could face a radical shake-up after Scotland's May elections. So what difference would it make to public services? David Scott quizzes the key politicians
It's the end of the line for a lot of regulatory red tape in local government as Peter Rogers prepares to slash more than 60 Whitehall-controlled areas down to five. He explains his role
The government has changed the system for allocating Private Finance Initiative credits for council waste services, but campaigners say this will do little to improve environmental sustainability.
Council and housing association tenants should be encouraged to buy as little as 10% of their homes as a first step towards full ownership, social landlords were told this week.
The Commission for Racial Equality's decision to investigate the Department of Health has prompted calls for new mental health legislation to be amended to promote racial equality.
Scots council tax bills are to rise by less than the rate of inflation. A number of factors, including a generous funding settlement and fears of the impact at the ballot box, have all played a role
Whitehall's largest trade union is threatening to hijack the local elections in May by exposing candidates supporting the government's controversial civil service reform agenda.
Local authority pension funds have called on Britain's listed firms to improve their auditing practices, threatening to use shareholder voting rights to force the disclosure of information.
The government's failure to measure population mobility is costing councils in London £100m a year in lost funding for services, according to a study from the London School of Economics.
Scottish councils have cut their financial reserves for the first time in recent years after facing 'significant and steadily increasing' costs, the Accounts Commission has found.
Social landlords must be willing to borrow substantially more from private lenders so that twice as many homes for rent can be built each year, the Housing Corporation warned this week.
More than a third of Scotland's councillors are to stand down at the May elections after being offered a 'golden goodbye' deal of up to £20,000, at an estimated total cost of more than £7m.
Local authorities need to make more of their successes, town hall leaders urged last week, after research showed that public satisfaction with council performance is diminishing.
