The BBC is on track to meet its target of £75m savings on procurement spending over three years, but could reduce its costs even further, MPs have found.
The May 1 election results gave Labour a bloody nose and shook up the political landscape. It also reflected voters' feeling that local authorities have precious little power.
In the year since Sir Michael Lyons set out his vision for the future of local government, ministers have launched initiatives to boost the 'place-shaping' role of councils. But the funding conundrum...
Another local government white paper is imminent and if ministers are serious about devolution, this one must provide for full financial accountability, argue Amelia Cookson and Andrew Collinge
The government does not know how much it spends on back-office services and it is 'not clear' how a flagship programme to save £1.4bn in costs will be achieved, MPs have warned.
Up to half of the people who moved to the UK from the 2004 European Union accession countries have already left, according to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research. The think-tank's...
Northern Ireland's public sector is too big and too well paid, according to Sir David Varney's review of competitiveness in Northern Ireland, carried out on behalf of the Treasury. The review could...
Whitehall's 'mania' for control over councils has created a climate of confusion, waste and apathy at local level, according to an esteemed public policy academic.
Keeping citizens' data centrally seemed such a good idea. It could help to catch terrorists, protect children, save patients' lives, and stop people from providing the same details to different...
The government could find itself caught out by its own fiscal rules if the delayed introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards means that Private Finance Initiative debt goes on the...
A database of up-to-date and comprehensive information on addresses in England and Wales compiled by 376 councils is to be made available for commercial use next week.
An employment think-tank has claimed that interest rates and inflation are lower as a result of high immigration, just weeks after a House of Lords committee questioned the national economic benefit...
Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears said this week that councils were vital in managing the impact of immigration on communities - but she rejected calls for a contingency fund for town halls.
The Welsh Assembly Government is to set up a pan-public sector body to manage capital projects in the country to tackle delays and cost overruns, Andrew Davies has told Public Finance .
A former social security secretary has endorsed the ideas behind the government's welfare reform programme and called for services to be contracted out to independent providers.
With all eyes fixed on the Ken 'n' Boris show in London's mayoral contest, the local elections that are to take place in the rest of England and Wales on May 1 have generated relatively few column...
Apprenticeships used to be seen as old hat. But now they've had a ministerial makeover and are viewed as vital in helping to rejuvenate an increasingly ageing public sector workforce. Vivienne...
The creation of an adult social services organisation a year ago opened up an opportunity to transform the quality of care for older and disabled people and the infant Adass is rising to the...
A dispute has broken out between the Scottish government and the Treasury over whether ministers in Edinburgh have the power to levy a nationally set local income tax.
Critics of George Bush have accused him of many things, from trampling on civil liberties to playing the dictator, but greatly reduced powers actually mean the presidency is more constrained than...
Twenty-five years on from the birth of the Audit Commission, is it time for a radical rethink on public sector inspection and regulation, asks David Walker
