Councils should give more thought to how the revenue they collect from charging contributes to their overall financial strategy, the Audit Commission said this week.
Public sector agencies are bearing the brunt of 'round-the-clock drinking and gambling'. But Gordon Brown seems to have lost his earlier resolve to reverse the newly liberalised laws. Peter...
The IDA showed it was taking equality issues seriously when it hired big hitter Angela Mason as adviser to local government. She tells Joseph McHugh her plans
The Trades Union Congress has stressed the need to maintain a united front as public sector pay negotiations go forward in a potentially hostile climate.
Prevention is the government's big idea for the NHS in 2008, with an ambitious screening programme, personal health and social care budgets and a push against obesity and binge-drinking. Noel...
The Liberal Democrats' new leader, Nick Clegg, has advocated a new type of publicly funded school, in his first speech on public services since being elected to the top job.
All Cabinet ministers responsible for Public Service Agreements should be required to provide an annual report to Parliament outlining the progress in meeting the targets, according to the New Local...
The Parliamentary commissioner for standards, John Lyon, has confirmed that he is to launch an investigation into the funding row involving Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain following a...
Business process outsourcing is growing rapidly in local government, as cash-strapped councils agree huge deals with private firms to provide a range of back-office services. Anat Arkin examines the...
Local authorities have attacked the Audit Commission's 'unacceptable' plan to hike its audit fees by up to a third by 2011 and are fighting a last-ditch battle to kill off the proposals.
All local authorities will be expected to prepare their annual accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards from April 2010, CIPFA has announced.
Healthcare Commission chair Sir Ian Kennedy has hit out at plans to merge his organisation with two other regulatory bodies, warning MPs that the move could 'set back development of a culture of...
Campaigners have welcomed government plans to radically transform care and support for elderly and disabled people by extending the system of personalised payments.
Local government minister John Healey has urged councils to look beyond the 'here and now' and face up to some of the long-term, deep-rooted problems that affect their communities.
Council leaders and ministers this week committed to a new relationship which moves closer to recognising central and local government as equal partners in service delivery.
Another day, another departmental disaster: can't the government get anything right? Colin Talbot takes an unseasonal swipe at civil service blunders and asks what's behind Whitehall's annus...
Love it or loathe it, the PFI has been a part of the public sector for more than a decade. But with changes in government policies and in its accounting treatment, what future, if any, does it have...
English councils outside the capital are set to clash with their London counterparts as local authorities scrabble for resources in a tight fiscal climate.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is one half of the most challenging education upheaval yet. Will it provide firm foundations for further and higher education and boost the UK...
