In the second of Public Finance 's series of 'After Lyons' articles, the Conservatives' shadow local government minister argues for a pragmatic pick 'n mix approach to Sir Michael's conclusions
The Department of Health's controversial National Programme for IT risks setting back the NHS's information system for years and has no back-up plan if it fails, the Commons Public Accounts Committee...
Doctors and insurance firms in Germany are up in arms over the 'NHS-lite' health reforms introduced on April 1. Greg Bousfield looks at the problems with the existing system and explains why...
Local government faces an uncertain future. The Lyons' report has been largely rejected by ministers, there is the prospect of a messy reorganisation, and local partnerships are failing to get off...
CIPFA will be hosting an event at its Mansell Street offices on 3 November to mark 40 years since the publication of the Layfield report into local government finance, including contributions from...
One of Gordon Brown's first moves as chancellor was to outsource responsibility for interest rates to the Monetary Policy Committee. So should he go further and create an independent body to oversee...
Regardless of press speculation, the Lyons report has not been consigned to the dustbin. In fact, it kickstarts the debate on reform, focusing first on the short-term decisions that ministers must...
The social services inspectorate has listed 21 systematic failures to protect the most vulnerable children and warned that these might 'get lost' as responsibility for inspection is passed to Ofsted.
Sir Michael Lyons and ministers this week united in an upbeat defence of local government reform in the face of widespread disappointment from town hall leaders, who fear many of Lyons' major...
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...
Councils have warned that central government aspirations for a 100% increase in town hall cashable efficiency savings are unachievable without cuts in local services.
Ministers have quickly rejected key recommendations from Sir Michael Lyons' review of local government, including a revaluation of property prices and an end to capping.
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...
Benefits need to be made available for all disabled children and taken up by more families if the government is to eradicate child poverty by 2020, a leading think-tank has warned.
Sir Michael Lyons this week denied that his proposed overhaul of town hall funding would initiate massive hikes in council taxes on expensive homes, and revealed that a long-term plan would accompany...
Ministers and councillors should have more direct control over quangos and arm's-length bodies, Tom McCabe, Scotland's finance minister, has suggested.
Unacceptable race inequalities persist in mental health services despite the injection of £16m of public funds committed to tackling the problem, campaigners said this week.
Number 10's online road-pricing e-petition was a huge hit. Not in terms of the likely fate of that policy but because it encouraged nearly 2 million people to put their point of view. Not a bad...
Ministers would set the education and community care budgets of every council in Scotland and take responsibility for managing these services under a radical plan drawn up by a leading civil servant.
Town hall leaders have backed MPs' calls for more funding and financial powers to be devolved to councils to help strengthen major cities' transport infrastructure.
NHS watchers turning to the service's third-quarter financial report last week were bemused. Despite Department of Health claims that NHS finances were more transparent than ever, no fewer than three...
A report published last week summarises the state of social housing and offers some solutions to the dilemmas the sector faces. But it promises no quick solutions to a complex set of problems
The funding system for adult social care is unsustainable and undesirable and should be replaced with an 'Every Older Person Matters' programme, central and local government leaders have said.
The NHS will improve on its 2005/06 deficit of £547m by just £110m, a Department of Health report has forecast, despite staff cutbacks and rationing of patient services.
