Social care might not seem the most obvious area where procurement reform can reap savings, but there are a number of ways in which the method of supplying goods and services can be improved
As local authorities square up to the housing and care demands of older people, new public-private partnerships are emerging to enable housing associations to meet their needs. Melinda Phillips...
Road pricing, cutting congestion, reducing carbon monoxide emissions and improving accessibility to public transport will be at the heart of Scotland's 20-year strategy on transport, Transport...
The modernisation of the West Coast Main Line was put back on track successfully, thanks to the involvement of the Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail, government auditors said this week.
Town hall leaders are demanding that devolution must underpin the Bills of the next parliamentary session, as the prime minister used the last Queen's Speech of his tenure to outline a far-reaching...
Capita, one of the UK's largest government outsourcing companies, is set to stand down from the CBI's influential public services board, Public Finance has learnt.
For years, the NHS has been living off the fat of the land. But now, lean times are almost upon it, and managers need to look for far greater efficiency savings, says Noel Plumridge
Salaries for Whitehall directors rose by 7.4% last year almost twice the rate as for the rest of the UK's workforce. But some executives have been rewarded despite poor performances, critics have...
Union leaders are warning the government that it faces losing the next general election unless it radically rethinks its policy on public services and halts the march towards marketisation.
Pressure is mounting on the European Commission to publish a legal framework establishing the limits to which public services must abide by its rules on free market competition.
The Scottish Executive has performed well against most of its transport targets but should provide a fuller picture of what is being achieved for a rising, multi-billion pound investment, auditor...
Local and central government are under intense scrutiny, as a plethora of inquiries and reviews get set to report by the end of the year. But with near-civil war gripping the government, how likely...
Subsidies for privately operated bus services are to be made available in Northern Ireland for the first time through a Passenger Transport Authority, transport minister David Cairns has announced.
'Co-production' is the latest big idea buzzing round Whitehall, with the aim of involving citizens more in the design and delivery of local public services. But, as Vivienne Russell discovered, there...
Prime Minister Tony Blair will next week launch a new attack on social exclusion, extending help to vulnerable children and adults through existing funding, which could be boosted in this winter's...
A senior member of the government's Pensions Commission is set to investigate a £350m retirement fund deficit across Britain's railways sector to help prevent national strikes on the network, Public...
The government wants savings, and e-auctions could help to deliver them. They save time, money and encourage joined-up working, if used in the right context, as Justin Pugsley explains
Labour and the Conservatives are both vying to be the party of devolution, but do their proposals include the radical 'whole system' reform necessary to succeed, wonders Dick Sorabji
This week's call for means-tested charges for NHS services is wrong-headed. Such a move would raise few funds, deter the wrong people from using health care, and undermine the consensus that backs...
Northern Ireland Health Minister Paul Goggins has promised to dramatically reduce bed-blocking, which at present accounts for the use of 200 to 300 beds per day in the province's hospitals.
