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
An overhaul of attitudes to fiscal responsibility is needed if the US is to remain the world’s pre-eminent economy, former US comptroller general David Walker has warned
The Audit Commission has admitted to MPs that councils’ treasury management capability was not on its ‘risk radar’ until after the Icelandic banking fiasco that has swallowed up £...
Local authorities and central government have set up an emergency ‘Salt Cell’ to ensure there is enough gritting salt for roads, as the extreme winter weather continues
A programme designed to tackle fuel poverty has directed help to people who do not need it while omitting many who do, a National Audit Office probe has found
Plans to announce the preferred bidders for the Flexible New Deal contracts have been put on hold while the government and potential contractors renegotiate terms, it has emerged
Schools minister Jim Knight has defended the Building Schools for the Future programme after the National Audit Office highlighted rising costs and delays
Charities have called on politicians to ‘hang their heads in shame’ after official figures revealed that social services spending on elderly people fell last year
All public service providers in Wales could be required to treat the Welsh and English languages equally under plans to draw down powers over the Welsh language from Westminster
The Department of Health has again delayed publication of the new NHS treatments tariff after health bodies raised concerns about its operation during testing
A £250m social investment bank should be set up to transform the role of voluntary organisations in helping people back into work, according to the Third Sector Taskforce
Help the Aged has urged the government to accelerate legislation to stop age discrimination after a survey showed that doctors believe the NHS is institutionally ageist
Public services face the prospect of a three-year real-terms spending freeze from 2010 as the government attempts to get its finances back on track, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned
The funding system for activities designed to keep teenagers away from a life of crime has been condemned as a ‘dog’s breakfast’ by the local government watchdog
The backlog of asylum claims made under a new ‘faster’ system has more than doubled since its introduction in 2007, according to the National Audit Office
