The use of design, build, operate and maintain contracts for light rail has driven up costs as bidders increase tender prices to try to cover risks over which they have no control.
At least 25 members of Northern Ireland's regional education and library boards have resigned in protest at cuts implemented after a tough financial settlement from the Department of Education.
District councils in Northern Ireland could be reduced from 26 to seven and given new legal powers under proposals published by the Review of Public Administration.
The Private Finance Initiative has not gone away it's just adapted to meet changing times. Mark Hellowell explores the opportunities and pitfalls in the new areas that the programme is expanding...
The Freedom of Information Act brings greater transparency about public sector spending and decision-making. But there are some grey areas, such as internal audit and fraud investigations, where...
Directly elected mayors were once ministerial flavour of the month but the policy was resoundingly rejected by voters. Now, even John Prescott has converted to the idea. David Harding reports
A major report into the financial health of the NHS by two senior government watchdogs might be held back until after the general election, it emerged this week.
Scotland's devolved administration has shown how it intends to keep right on to the end of the road and how much the journey is likely to cost Scottish taxpayers.
As the political parties compete for the most radical cuts to red tape before the election, they are turning their magnifying glasses on to regulation and inspection. While a pruning is overdue, it...
Is our system of government in terminal decline, obsessed by spin and central control? Sir Christopher Foster, a former adviser to both Labour and Tory ministers, thinks so. He uses privatisation of...
Red tape could derail government plans to send disaffected young people out into the workplace to acquire new skills and motivation, business leaders have warned.
Neighbourhood boards are the latest big idea for getting the public to improve the services they use. But will this US invention work here, asks Chris Skelcher
Edinburgh has sounded the death knell for city congestion charging schemes outside London by voting three-to-one against the council's proposed two-zone scheme.
Edinburgh residents are due to start voting next week on whether the Scottish capital will become the second city in Britain to introduce congestion charging.
French government plans to review working practices, together with a number of pay disputes, have provoked a wave of strikes by public service workers across the country.
The long-running pay dispute at the Department for Work and Pensions could end this week after leaders of Whitehall's largest trade union endorsed a three-year deal, worth up to 15% for some staff.
Serious storms that battered Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England, leaving thousands of people without power, prompted an emergency statement from ministers this week.
Northern Ireland's public bodies are facing a growing financial crisis with all of the province's five education and library boards and some health trusts looking at large deficits unless they are...
