Can you only feel the public service ethos if you are employed by the public sector? Of course not, says Ann Rossiter. It all depends on the values of the service provider
A shake-up of policing in London could be jeopardised because the funds it needs have been swallowed up by the extra costs arising from the terrorist attacks on July 7 and 21, Public Finance has...
The Commission for Social Care Inspection has condemned the government's plans to move its children's services remit to an enlarged Ofsted as 'incoherent', 'illogical' and 'dangerous'.
The rules of the much-debated Private Finance Initiative game are about to change. The Office for National Statistics is soon expected to start counting a new tranche of PFI deals against public...
The London bombings are putting long-established 'community cohesion' policies to the test and threatening to hijack them in the name of a quick fix for terrorism.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned all British local authorities that they must quickly develop emergency plans to combat terrorism and deal with the aftermath of a potential...
Political parties that do not comply with the Electoral Commission's financial regulations could be barred from campaigning in future elections, Public Finance has learned.
One of the government's favoured think-tanks has said departmental evidence on their own targets is 'not credible', and has called for select committees to be given statutory duties to assess their...
Schools are improving, but some are still performing well below their best. Ofsted chief David Bell explains how a lean, mean, new inspection regime will sweep up these laggards and help them to...
Sefton Borough Council this week launched an inquiry into a controversial housing transfer ballot after allegations of corruption, bribery and intimidation.
Public sector trades unions held pre-emptive talks this week over the thorny issue of pensions amid growing fears that they could fail to agree reform principles with ministers in advance of more...
The IRA's decision to end armed conflict finally gives Northern Ireland's citizens the chance of a normal life. But this means setting up democratic systems to replace political structures built...
The Health and Safety Executive is to encourage more public bodies to sign up to a new occupational risk index to help combat rising insurance premiums.
Many of Bexley council's school pupils were being educated in huts, with winds raging through broken windows. Then the chance of a £30m PFI refurbishment programme came along. Mike Ellsmore explains...
Local authorities are vulnerable to a legal challenge that their outsourced services breach new European Union rules designed to avoid the overpayment of contractors, Public Finance has learnt.
A small rise in the number of playing fields in England is not enough to mask the dramatic loss in facilities that has taken place over the past 13 years, sports campaigners said this week.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's review of the local government grant formula must take greater account of the extra cost of providing essential public services to far-flung rural...
The civil service does need urgent reform to bring it into line with other parts of the public sector, argues Sir Michael Bichard. But legislation is not the answer
People who assault fire officers in the course of their work could be imprisoned for up to two years under the provisions of a draft order published in Northern Ireland.
Schoolchildren from the poorest families are failing to match the attainment levels of their more affluent counterparts, the education secretary admitted this week.
Gordon Brown might mean what he says, but does he say what he means? The government's Alice in Wonderland approach to its Spending Review timings has a lot more to do with politics than economics