The Irish economy, feted by Alex Salmond, might end up needing IMF support packages and could be evicted from the eurozone. Now there is a concern that the effects will spread to Northern Ireland
Details have been announced for a £4bn funding framework to provide academy schools in areas in England not yet running a Building Schools for the Future scheme
The work and pensions select committee joined the chorus of concern about the government’s flagship Flexible New Deal programme as unemployment figures continue to grow
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has told MPs it is ‘inconceivable’ that the NHS will face real-terms spending cuts from 2011, when the government aims to restore the public finances after...
The forthcoming green paper on social care in England presents a chance to radically rethink the whole system, according to Phil Hope, the minister responsible
The Bank of England has started printing money in another attempt to revive the economy. In the first of our Budget Watch series, Charles Davis discusses the likely impact of this move and looks...
Against all odds, the SNP and Alex Salmond have stayed in power and stormed through their manifesto. Critics say the minority government cannot last but the first minister begs to differ
English councils should do more to track down the owners of empty homes as a first step towards bringing extra housing into use, the government has said
The Healthcare Commission has praised the treatment of military personnel injured on the front line as ‘exceptional’ and rehabilitation services as ‘excellent’.
MPs have condemned shrinking investment in defence research, saying Britain’s military capability and role in the world could be diminished unless the cuts are reversed.
The financial crisis has thrust Treasury select committee chair John McFall into the limelight. He talks to Judy Hirst about bankers, bonuses – and dealing with hooligans
The lights are on in the Treasury but who’s minding the tills? After hiving off so much responsibility for fiscal and monetary policy, the department is not in good shape to tackle the biggest...
Plans to reduce police bureaucracy, which the Home Office claims will save 260,000 hours a year, have been given a lukewarm reception by bodies representing the force.
The long-term effect of the economic downturn on the public sector will be to focus attention on cost-cutting, warned the Treasury’s director of public services
