The government wants us to have a big conversation about Britishness. But its proposals for probationary citizenship and symbolic ceremonies are deeply controversial with major implications for...
Peter Robinson is happy to talk about his work as Northern Ireland finance minister. But Ian Paisley's resignation means he's going to have to face up to that succession question very soon, says Paul...
Next week's statement will be a severe test for the chancellor. There's a squeeze on spending and no appetite for tax rises, so what are Alistair Darling's options? PF convened a round table of...
The Treasury's expert accountancy advisers have backed delaying central government's implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards by a year, because two key departments cannot meet...
An economic downturn is coming, that much almost everyone is agreed on. But its depth, width and length are still uncertain. As the Budget looms, Priyen Patel looks at the options
The NHS is approaching 60 and as deficits turn into surpluses it's not looking bad for its age. But now everyone is anticipating the health minister's final report, and asking how much his...
Accountants have been 'part of the problem' in contributing to climate change and now need to become part of the solution, Sir Michael Peat, the Prince of Wales' private secretary has warned.
The Jobcentre Plus agency has won praise from the National Audit Office, after establishing more than 850 offices around the country in a project that was completed for £314m less than the original £...
Six central government departments, spending a total of more than £45bn, do not have a professionally qualified finance director on the board, more than a year after a Treasury deadline.
The Home Office's failure to have its accounts in good working order was 'inexcusable', its permanent secretary told a Treasury and CIPFA-hosted symposium on financial management in London on...
The 1997 Single Status Agreement was supposed to end unequal pay in local government. But a decade on, women are still underpaid, thousands of cases are clogged up in tribunals and workers are on the...
Local authorities will ignore centrally imposed house-building targets unless they have financial incentives to approve developers' plans, according to a senior government adviser.
An uncomfortable truth lurked amid all the congratulations that greeted last week's publication of the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessments, lauded as the best ever by ministers,...
Charges are a powerful means of boosting local coffers and even changing people's negative behaviour. But councils not Whitehall are best placed to judge how this should be done
The centre of government has been given a make-over, with new policy advisers and even a permanent secretary at Number 10. But they're no nearer to finding Brown's big idea, says Tony Travers
Not only can the Local Government Information Unit's new executive director juggle family and work but he's handy with the knives, too, writes Joseph McHugh
The tax credits system continues to lose £1bn a year as a result of fraud, error and overpayment, a report by the Public Accounts Committee has warned.
Britain must end its 'addiction' to the idea that choice and diversity in public services inevitably lead to inequalities, new Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has warned.
Councils should give more thought to how the revenue they collect from charging contributes to their overall financial strategy, the Audit Commission said this week.
Public sector agencies are bearing the brunt of 'round-the-clock drinking and gambling'. But Gordon Brown seems to have lost his earlier resolve to reverse the newly liberalised laws. Peter...
