Whitehall officials have ‘too cosy’ a relationship with contractors and are not paying enough attention to making sure they provide value for money, MPs have found
The Communication Workers Union has condemned a proposed pay freeze across the Royal Mail as ‘unacceptable’, as postal workers threaten strikes over job losses in London
A powerful budget department similar to the UK Treasury should be set up in Scotland to control the stark spending choices now facing the Salmond administration, a leading think-tank has suggested...
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has said the recession is serving as a ‘catalyst’ for the reform of public services and creating greater need for devolution of power
The National Audit Office seems unable to enforce performance management in Whitehall, according to the chair of the Commons public administration select committee
Is April the cruellest month? By the time Alistair Darling finished his 2009 Budget speech, it was looking a lot nastier than November. The litany of figures the chancellor recited revealed just how...
A groundbreaking deal to supply electricity to the entire public sector in Scotland was set to be announced by Finance Secretary John Swinney on April 30
The government’s push for greater choice and personalisation of public services will be hit by the spending squeeze outlined in the Budget, the chair of a powerful Commons committee has warned
Ten NHS trusts have been given Department of Health funding as part of a project aimed at improving late-stage dementia care by enhancing the patients’ living environment
The government will be forced to change its position on the privatisation of Royal Mail, the author of a report at the centre of a Labour Party row has predicted
A powerful committee of MPs has warned that ‘unprecedented’ cuts in public services and substantial tax increases might be needed to claw Britain back from its worst fiscal position since the Second...
A cash-strapped government quango is poised to pay private consultants more than £400,000 to rescue part of its beleaguered college rebuilding programme
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has acknowledged the critical shortage of primary school places, saying officials are looking at ways of remedying the situation
The Learning and Skills Council is being abolished after a series of high-profile disasters, the most damaging of which - the Building Colleges for the Future programme - has left a £5.7bn deficit
An influential committee of MPs has backed a controversial report recommending that patients be able to ‘top up’ NHS treatment with private care, despite fears it will result in a two-tier system
Local government mandarin Neil Kinghan is to take over at the top of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission following the departure of chief executive Nicola Brewer
