The Help to Buy equity loan programme violated Treasury guidelines because it was introduced without an assessment of the alternatives, MPs have said today.
The Audit Commission has urged councils to ensure they implement a strategic approach to asset and property management after finding £2.5bn of the local government estate could be put to better use.
Government plans to integrate public services and spending mean it is vital that reforms are also made to the regime for dealing with complaints about poor provision, the Whitehall ombudsman has said.
The Ministry of Justice’s plan to outsource probation services carries ‘significant risks’ because it attempts to do too much at once, the Public Accounts Committee has warned
The rate of UK public library closures slowed last year, with 74 libraries shutting compared to 201 in 2011/12, CIPFA’s latest library survey has revealed.
Local communities in England lose £4.1bn each year to the UK’s devolved nations through the ‘outdated’ Barnett Formula for distributing public spending, the Local Government Association has claimed...
Security firm G4S has issued the Ministry of Justice with £23.3m in credit notes after it acknowledged it charged for monitoring electronic tags when equipment had not been fitted or had been removed
There are ‘significant and unexplained variations’ in the quality of NHS maternity services in England and the number of midwives remains below best practice benchmarks, auditors said today
The government’s plan to privatise the Royal Mail amounts to ‘flogging off a national institution on the cheap’ and could leave taxpayers shortchanged by future asset sales, Labour’s shadow business...
Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that the ‘crisis’ in the public finances caused by the government’s deficit is not over, and he indicated further cuts to spending will be needed.
The government's controversial new back-to-work scheme is to be piloted in two parts of the UK, the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said today.
