The chief executive of the Local Government Association tells Joseph McHugh about the push for greater autonomy and diversity in the provision of council services
Labour and the Conservatives are both vying to be the party of devolution, but do their proposals include the radical 'whole system' reform necessary to succeed, wonders Dick Sorabji
Whitehall officials must improve the design and operation of the administrative systems underpinning UK services if targeted public sector improvements are to be achieved, influential MPs have warned.
Sir Jeremy Beecham's review shows that reform of public services in Wales is on the right track but needs to progress further and faster. The Welsh Assembly Government welcomes the challenge
This week's call for means-tested charges for NHS services is wrong-headed. Such a move would raise few funds, deter the wrong people from using health care, and undermine the consensus that backs...
Japan's Government Policy Evaluation Act bears a passing resemblance to Whitehall's Public Service Agreements. But it is part of a deeper and more extensive reform to take the politics out of public...
Political acceptability will dictate Sir Michael Lyons' proposals to reform local government finance when he concludes his inquiry later this year, he has told Public Finance
The Treasury is to launch a root-and-branch review of procurement throughout the public sector, amid ministers' mounting frustration that many organisations are still not using their buying power to...
Most of the savings NHS acute trusts have made in reducing their spending on nursing agencies have been offset by increased use of the in-house NHS Professionals agency and their own nursing 'banks...
The PFI faces a combined attack from national statisticians and influential accountancy bodies. There is a lot at stake, including the chancellor's fiscal rules, reports Don Smith
Scotland would lose many of the benefits of economic and financial integration with the rest of the UK if the Holyrood Parliament had powers to raise and spend its own taxes, the authors of a report...
For many young vulnerable people, the statutory sector closes its door on them the moment they hit 18. But thanks to new social inclusion projects, this is changing. Nicola Pauling reports
The government is on a new charm offensive with the voluntary sector. But will all the reviews and initiatives allay charities' suspicions that ministers are looking for public services on the cheap...
The tangle of performance indicators and reporting requirements that are throttling local government will be swept away following a wide-ranging review being set up to slash red tape in the sector,...
England's core cities are poised to receive new powers mirroring those already enjoyed by London's mayor in the drive to reinvigorate 'democratic decision-making', Ruth Kelly has indicated.
The National Audit Office has denied accusations that it was unduly pressured by the Department of Health into producing a positive report on its £12.4bn procurement of a national IT programme for...
For the Labour government, charity began and ended at home. Or the Home Office, at least, where its charitable and voluntary sector policy largely gathered dust after 1997.
There is a lull in Westminster, as if everything is waiting for the next PM. For many in the public sector, this represents a welcome rest from a breakneck whirl of reform but not for local...
Prime Minister Tony Blair this week initiated a crucial phase of his third-term public services reforms a wide-ranging review of private and voluntary sector capabilities across health, social care...
Local government reformer Sir Michael Lyons wants more choice at a local level. But, as George Jones and John Stewart argue, it's a controlling central government culture that needs to change
Connecting for Health the NHS's huge National Programme for IT has been dogged by 'scope creep' and core 'spine' problems. But as its chief, Richard Granger, tells PF , plenty has gone right,...
