A hastily introduced sentencing policy is damaging the criminal justice system by overcrowding Britain's jails and reintroducing the miseries of asylums within prisons, a study has claimed.
The Home Office has renewed its call for the pre-charge detention period for arrested suspects to be extended as part of a future counter-terrorism Bill.
Gordon Brown's new ministerial team has ditched plans to create 'mega-contractors' that would enjoy lucrative regional monopolies in the forthcoming privatisation of jobseeker programmes.
Antisocial behaviour measures cost £3.6bn a year, but there is no systematic evaluation of whether that money could be better spent, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has found.
New Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has vowed to make 'localism and devolution' the watchwords of her tenure, she said in her first major speech since her appointment.
The government's Sure Start project has failed to help deprived black and ethnic minority families, according to a report for the new Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced an immediate review of NHS recruitment procedures after it emerged that all the suspects in the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow had links to the health...
The new prime minister is an intellectual heavyweight, with strong views of his own on public policy. So where does this leave Britain's burgeoning think-tank industry? Peter Wilby reports on the...
The Department for Communities and Local Government this week accused three councils of wasting taxpayers' money over a legal challenge against Ruth Kelly's plans for more unitary authorities.
The government is expected to introduce a narrow Bill giving council-funded care home residents recourse to the Human Rights Act, after three Law Lords ruled that the current legislation excludes...
Public sector regulators should promote a 'culture of curiosity' among service providers, the Audit Commission's chair, Michael O'Higgins, told delegates.
Computer glitches have been blamed for a substantial drop in council tax collection in 23 local authorities, leading to a loss of more than £26m from town hall budgets last year, Public Finance has...
The Welsh Local Government Association has welcomed First Minister Rhodri Morgan's commitment to consider reallocating some business rates to councils.
Senior MPs have demanded that ministers redouble efforts to address the 'serious crisis' of the over-representation of black people in the criminal justice system.
Alex Salmond's government might be 'in office, not in power'. But that is not holding the Scottish National Party back from launching a radical public sector shake-up. Iain Macwhirter reports from...
Is New Labour's modernisation agenda for public services anywhere near endgame? Tony Travers surveys the progress so far and asks whether a Brown government should slow down or speed up the pace of...
Pre-school intervention programmes reap huge rewards for society. But the government needs to use the next Comprehensive Spending Review to do some joined-up funding of local initiatives, argues...
The Department of Health has claimed a legal victory in the row over the new system for recruiting junior doctors, but the future of the scheme remains uncertain following attacks by doctors and...
Scotland's first minority nationalist government was set to be endorsed on May 17 after the historic election of Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond as first minister.
It's the public services, stupid. As Ireland's voters prepare for a general election, the focus is on problems in the country's huge state sector. The rival parties all have their own solutions,...
Senior civil servants have called for an immediate review of the Home Office's resources following the creation of the Ministry of Justice this week, claiming that they need more funds to manage the...
