Beleaguered police officers took to the streets of London to protest at their staged pay award this week, while debate raged over how the service can be modernised.
The Scottish government has asked the Accounts Commission to co-ordinate the scrutiny of council functions until longer-term changes are made to the regulatory regime.
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...
This year has got off to a somewhat odd start, with the word that dared not speak its name nationalisation back from the dead, and even state ownership of body parts up for debate
A Department of Health survey has revealed widespread doubts among GPs that the government's flagship practice-based commissioning policy is making any difference to the way they work.
Northern Ireland's government departments are guilty of 'unacceptable' underspending because of weak financial management, say the Assembly's scrutiny committees.
The Trades Union Congress has stressed the need to maintain a united front as public sector pay negotiations go forward in a potentially hostile climate.
Council leaders in Wales have condemned the budget presented to the Welsh Assembly on January 15 as 'the worst local government settlement since devolution'.
Prevention is the government's big idea for the NHS in 2008, with an ambitious screening programme, personal health and social care budgets and a push against obesity and binge-drinking. Noel...
Even the most well-meaning and innocent of decisions can fall foul of the law, as the government found when it sent schools copies of An inconvenient truth , Al Gore's film about global warming
The 'use of resources' element of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment has led to a dramatic improvement in council services. But it won't be stopping there. In fact, it's set to play an even...
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness has been criticised for failing to evaluate older medicines that might not be providing value for money.
Business process outsourcing is growing rapidly in local government, as cash-strapped councils agree huge deals with private firms to provide a range of back-office services. Anat Arkin examines the...
Chancellor Alistair Darling will have to raise taxes or significantly reduce public spending if the government presses ahead with plans to reduce immigration levels, a think-tank has claimed.
We received an impressive tally of high-scoring entries to our annual sprint through the year's public sector events. So very well done to our winner, Karen Franklin of Spalding in Lincolnshire, who...
Local authorities have attacked the Audit Commission's 'unacceptable' plan to hike its audit fees by up to a third by 2011 and are fighting a last-ditch battle to kill off the proposals.
Charities campaigning against child poverty have thrown their weight behind a think-tank report that highlights Labour's failure to help poor children from working families.
Another day, another departmental disaster: can't the government get anything right? Colin Talbot takes an unseasonal swipe at civil service blunders and asks what's behind Whitehall's annus...
