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.
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
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...
Hundreds of town halls have been left struggling with paperwork after the new online registration system for births and deaths was withdrawn following technical failures.
Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan has been given approval to talk to the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats as he seeks to continue Labour minority rule in the Welsh Assembly.
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...
Housing minister Yvette Cooper has dismissed peers' criticism of her incoming Home Improvement Packs as representing vested interests and failing to understand the environmental benefits of property...
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
Welsh Labour leaders have denied that they are examining options for coalition government if they fail to retain control of the Welsh Assembly after the May 3 elections.
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 Labour Party in Wales, which fears losing control of the Welsh Assembly in the May 3 elections, accused its rivals of not presenting coherent proposals for new laws.
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.
Northern Ireland council workers take on average more than three days extra sickness absence per year than their equivalents in England and Wales, a report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office has...
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...
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.
The latest strategy to get NHS waiting lists down is 24 hours a day surgery. But critics say it might endanger patient welfare, and boosting resources elsewhere would be more effective. Noel...
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...
NHS staff in Scotland are to receive their entire 2.5% pay increase in April following a surprise decision that conflicts with the phased deal on offer to their counterparts in England and Wales.
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.
Despite the best efforts of the Disability Discrimination Act, too many disabled people are still treated as second-class citizens. The new equality duty on public sector organisations is intended to...
Organisations wishing to challenge contracts awarded by public bodies have been able to do so on the basis of judicial review. Not any longer, it would seem, if the decision to tender had been...
Government health watchdogs have criticised the 'disgraceful' lack of co-ordinated effort in reducing the number of children who have to be taken to hospital following preventable injury.
As the UK rushes to improve the skills of its workforce, a door has opened for more private sector involvement in further and higher education. Is this filling a gap or taking over at the expense of...
