Treasury ministers will continue to monitor closely the cost of the Olympic Games, but have not committed themselves to covering unaccounted rises, officials confirmed this week.
Are decades of planning laws about to be reversed in a free-for-all that will carpet England's green belts with out-of-town megastores? Peter Hetherington weighs up the evidence on the Barker review
Who would have thought it? NHS Resource Accounting and Budgeting has suddenly got the media excited. And there's plenty more fancy footwork where that came from. Andy McKeon explains how the Rab...
The national green belt policy should be swept away and decisions over planning permission left entirely in the hands of local communities, according to Policy Exchange.
A controversial Scottish Executive report showing that Scotland has an £11.2bn funding 'black hole' might have contained an error over the level of public spending, chief economist Andrew Goudie...
A new multi-billion pound agency will take charge of housing and regeneration in England within the next two years, the government confirmed this week.
Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred has denied he is disappointed that the Department of Health declined his advice to repay financial penalties levied against overspending hospitals.
The social care inspectorate has called for an urgent national debate into whether or not the state should continue to provide preventative social care to disabled and frail adults.
Supporters say social enterprises marry private efficiency with public values, offering innovative low-cost, high-quality services. But a wider definition of value for money is needed to get the best...
Public Service Agreements were meant to keep track of what departments do with taxpayers' money. The problem is that no-one, least of all MPs, pays them much attention. Colin Talbot and Carole...
Happy New Year. If you are an adult with a disability you now have two years left to receive preventative social care that could stop your condition deteriorating further, the Local Government...
The Scottish Executive is on track to achieve 97% of the pledges it made when a partnership agreement was drawn up between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, First Minister Jack McConnell has claimed.
The government's efficiency programme appeared to have an admirable aim until it turned out to be a crude job-cutting exercise. But managers are ready to find real efficiencies, if only ministers...
With a Brown premiership predicted for any time soon, all bets are off as to what it will mean for one of Blair's most cherished 'legacy' issues public service reform. Tony Travers hacks through a...
The government's target is to halve the numbers of UK children living in poverty by 2010. But success rests on adequate funding, and campaigners doubt that enough money will be provided in next year'...
Your begin your first job in ignorant bliss of the pitfalls ahead, then continue to learn the hard way. But it doesn't have to be like this. Michael Ware reveals his need-to-know list
The Department of Health has admitted that the financial regime governing NHS trusts is unsustainable, yet has declined to implement an Audit Commission recommendation to correct it.
No sooner had Chancellor Gordon Brown finished adding up his promised £36bn investment in education over the next four years than the economists were asking the inevitable question: 'How much of that...
Scotland spends £11.2bn more than it gathers from taxes, according to the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland report, published this week by the Scottish Executive.
A government scheme that encourages tenants to buy shares in their homes must be made more flexible if the take-up is going to improve, says a new report.
Business rates need to be brought urgently back under local government control, argues Paul Raynes. The current system is inefficient, keeps councils in bondage, involves huge, unnecessary financial...
