Fed up with slaving away in the background on your worthy but dull project while others bask in the glory of their ground-breaking, award-winning pathfinders? Well, suffer no longer. Michael Ware has...
Children who are dropped off at nurseries early in the morning are being left alone because of staff shortages and poor planning, a senior education inspector said this week.
So the chancellor has managed just to keep within his fiscal rules. But his Pre-Budget Report lays the ground for spending cuts that will leave little funding for services other than the...
Four candidates are vying to be the new leader of Liverpool City Council following the resignation of Mike Storey, who has been found guilty of breaking the councillors' code of conduct.
The new beefed-up version of the Audit Commission should be able to stop other inspectorates from poring over council services if it feels it is unnecessary, ministers are proposing.
The Home Office's finance chief is bringing a professional accounting approach to Whitehall at a time when it is under most pressure. She talks to Mark Conrad
Voluntary sector bodies are not just talking about public service provision. They're successfully delivering it. So why is the government so slow to back up the Third Sector with long-term contracts...
The regeneration of the Thames Gateway presents a golden opportunity to rethink how public services are designed and funded, local government and communities minister David Miliband said this week.
Local government leaders have welcomed their new responsibility to ensure there is sufficient childcare to meet the needs of working families - but warned that it needs to be backed up with adequate...
Primary schools are using covert selection methods to weed out the most disadvantaged pupils, according to the director of the Confederation of Education and Children's Services Managers.
The troubled Child Support Agency has refused to disclose whether former chief executive Doug Smith received a bonus before leaving earlier this year despite revealing that senior staff have...
Rhodri Morgan is every bit as evangelical as Tony Blair when it comes to improving public services. But Wales is taking a very different route from Westminster. Steve Davies reports on public sector...
As the Local Government Association in England locked horns with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister over the forthcoming financial settlement, Welsh councils have already been told how much...
Councils could be forced to delve into billions of pounds of vital cash reserves following a tough 2006/07 finance settlement, ministers have warned town hall officials.
Never one to shrink from a challenge, David Blunkett has taken the incapacity benefit bit between his teeth. Judy Hirst reports on the work and pensions secretary's controversial measures to get...
Chief inspector of schools David Bell has backed plans for greater autonomy for head teachers, which are widely expected to be included in the education white paper due to be published next week.
The education white paper aims to complete the government's reforms by hugely extending parental choice and providing better schooling all round. But, asks Martin Bentham, will this latest upheaval...
Opponents of new house building are grossly exaggerating the impact that it will have on rural areas in Southeast England, councils were told this week.
A leading educational charity has hit out at the inequities in the education system, releasing research showing that only a tiny proportion of the country's poorest children have access to the best...
It's the biggest shake-up in social care for 30 years, with seamless children's services at its core. But already boundary disputes and rows about funding are spoiling the party
A future Conservative government should match Margaret Thatcher's 'enterprise revolution' in industry, with a 'social enterprise revolution' in the public services, shadow health secretary Andrew...
