Is New Labour's modernisation agenda for public services anywhere near endgame? Tony Travers surveys the progress so far and asks whether a Brown government should slow down or speed up the pace of...
The Northern Ireland Assembly has resolved to introduce free personal care for elderly and disabled people, nine years after a royal commission recommended it.
Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has told council leaders he wants to freeze council tax bills from 2008 prior to introducing a local income tax.
Ahead of taking up the premiership, Gordon Brown has promised a redistribution of power down from central to local government. Is this just fantasy politics or will the new PM deliver the goods?
The recent UK-wide elections have highlighted the fact that there is not one NHS but four. Noel Plumridge examines what binds the different health services and what sets them apart
The top tier of the civil service in Scotland has been radically reorganised to fit the slimmer Cabinet introduced by the new Scottish Nationalist Party minority government.
Gordon Brown has said he is not opposed to electoral reform if it keeps the constituency link. One idea is the alternative vote system, which is supported by ministers Gareth Thomas and James...
Scotland's first minority nationalist government was set to be endorsed on May 17 after the historic election of Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond as first minister.
Local political parties across Scotland were entering into crucial negotiations this week to try to strike coalition deals after election results that left all but two of Scotland's 32 councils with...
In the end, 'Super Thursday' wasn't meltdown for New Labour but neither was it a springboard for success. Tony Travers looks at the party's prospects after the local, Scottish and Welsh elections...
The system of scrutinising public services in Scotland is not 'fit for purpose' and needs to be radically reformed, council leaders and chief officials have concluded.
Payment by results is here to stay. But now ministers are consulting on the best way to 'unbundle' the tariff-based system. Noel Plumridge braves the details
Personalisation is the latest buzzword in the government's public service policy review. But putting the focus on the customer as user rather than as a taxpayer just sidesteps many of the difficult...
Labour's battle to retain power at Holyrood and prevent a Scottish National Party victory received a much-needed boost this week when leading personalities, including top business figures, declared...
Councils have called on Audit Scotland to change the way it conducts its Best Value audit process, the system that places a duty on local authorities to make continuous improvements in their...
The future of local government finance moved up the election agenda in Scotland this week as the Liberal Democrats announced their plans for a local income tax.
An influential Scottish Parliament committee has criticised the standard of information given by ministers on the financial consequences of legislation.
Whitehall's largest trade union this week intensified its battle against the government's civil service reform agenda by asking hundreds of local councillors for their views on the controversial...
A leading public finance expert has criticised the Scottish National Party's plans for a local income tax, claiming they are based on shaky financial assumptions that would create a significant...
Politicians suffer from myopia and tunnel vision they look only to the short term and take a blinkered view of the issue in hand. This is a sentiment with which many people would agree.
More than £12bn of public funds is spent every year on support for small business but to what effect? A Conservative Party task force found the programmes to be ineffective, bureaucratic and...
