The Audit Commission this week accused Whitehall of hindering local government's efficiency by tampering with regulations that impose huge costs on councils.
The troubled Child Support Agency has refused to disclose whether former chief executive Doug Smith received a bonus before leaving earlier this year despite revealing that senior staff have...
Choosing spending priorities involves some tough, painful and invariably unpopular decisions. Harrow decided to put its residents in the hot seat and invigorate democracy in the process. Maria McHale...
Rhodri Morgan is every bit as evangelical as Tony Blair when it comes to improving public services. But Wales is taking a very different route from Westminster. Steve Davies reports on public sector...
Councils that demonstrate the most imagination will be best placed to take advantage of the government's new local regeneration funds, a Treasury minister said last week.
Central and local government have agreed to patch up their differences and work together to try to keep council tax rises low following angry exchanges earlier in the week.
Partnerships between public sector organisations risk wasting money unless there is a clear sense of what they are hoping to achieve and who is in charge, the Audit Commission warned this week.
The civil service should be replaced by a new organisation embracing all those involved in the management of the public sector, former top civil servant Sir Michael Bichard has suggested.
Most of the Revenue & Customs department's 100,000 staff are to receive pay rises of 3%-4% each year until 2008 under a new deal that will eradicate large wage disparities.
Chief inspector of schools David Bell has backed plans for greater autonomy for head teachers, which are widely expected to be included in the education white paper due to be published next week.
Managers in the public sector came under fire from a leading economist at the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers annual conference this week.
For years, people have been asking why central government is not subject to the same rigorous performance assessments as the rest of the public sector. Well, now Whitehall's turn has come
Sunday is a day of rest and dread if you run a public body. For, come Monday, you know you have to run a gauntlet of inspectors, auditors, MPs and others who all have something to say about your...
Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell this week backed calls for a civil service Act to enshrine Whitehall's independence, but warned that his legislative preferences could be thwarted by political...
Becoming more efficient isn't an end in itself for local authorities. By improving the way they do things, councils can concentrate more on their main job managing resources and services in the...
A future Conservative government should match Margaret Thatcher's 'enterprise revolution' in industry, with a 'social enterprise revolution' in the public services, shadow health secretary Andrew...
Local Improvement Finance Trusts can make a big difference to health services, but issues need to be resolved around value-for-money comparisons, resourcing and the rationalisation of primary care...
The council tax issue is not going to go away, says Tony Travers. The government might have postponed the revaluation but this won't stop the annual rises and accompanying protests. It's time to take...
Leaked official documents suggest that the government is planning far wider private sector involvement in the NHS than previously admitted, a senior member of the Common's health select committee has...
New Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has chosen a local government expert to lead the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and promoted a specialist to manage the Northern Ireland Office.