Environment officials have shown ‘scant regard’ for protecting public money in their administration and management of the farmers’ payment scheme in England, the National Audit Office has said
The Ministry of Defence’s programme for procuring equipment for the armed forces is ‘creaking’, according to a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee
Schools and local authorities have been accused of disregarding safety after a report found that fewer than 500 of the UK’s 32,000 schools have sprinkler systems to combat fires
Neither the government nor the Opposition are yet being realistic about driving down government debt, a leading economist has told senior public sector financial managers
A one-year public sector pay freeze, as proposed by shadow chancellor George Osborne this week, risks widening the gap between public and private sector salaries, an employment expert has warned
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced it will protect health and youth employment budgets from cuts while spending across the public sector is restrained
The government has finalised plans for a carbon emissions reduction scheme aimed at forcing major public and private sector polluters to take action on climate change
Town halls will need to hold a Conservative government’s ‘feet to the fire’ to ensure it stays true to its localist pledges, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office has admitted
Batten down the hatches, the worst is yet to come. Even if the recession is now over, there are mounting social and financial pressures on the UK. Only radical government action can avert disaster,...
Much more dramatic spending cuts than those already signalled are inevitable if the Conservatives are serious about reducing public borrowing, economists have warned
Government figures have revealed huge variations in local authority’s efficiency savings, while experts have warned that they are distorted by ‘smoke and mirrors’
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Communities Secretary John Denham have spearheaded an attack on the Conservatives’ record on services, aimed at positioning Labour as the natural party of the public...
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been accused of trying to pull a ‘rabbit out of a hat’ in announcing that the government will offer free personal care so frail elderly people can be cared for in...
Public bodies run costly risks when they use the Private Finance Initiative, argues Matthew Dillon. Managing special purpose companies is one of the most obvious
Conservatives gather next week knowing they need to spell out plans for austerity government. They’re taking tips from Tory ‘easyCouncils’
on how to get more for less. Philip Johnston asks whether...
