Local authorities will ignore centrally imposed house-building targets unless they have financial incentives to approve developers' plans, according to a senior government adviser.
Legal action by a private firm against a not-for-profit insurance mutual set up by London local authorities could threaten its existence, its chair has warned.
An uncomfortable truth lurked amid all the congratulations that greeted last week's publication of the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessments, lauded as the best ever by ministers,...
The Healthcare Commission is to carry out a nationwide study of mental health units for older people after finding that nurses in these wards were more likely to be attacked than those treating...
Charges are a powerful means of boosting local coffers and even changing people's negative behaviour. But councils not Whitehall are best placed to judge how this should be done
The centre of government has been given a make-over, with new policy advisers and even a permanent secretary at Number 10. But they're no nearer to finding Brown's big idea, says Tony Travers
The government has called for fresh efforts to promote community cohesion and tackle tensions as well as setting out policies to create stronger local communities across the UK.
Next year, the Homes and Community Agency will take over a swathe of housing and wider responsibilities. Its chief executive in waiting is raring to go, he tells Neil Merrick
As Peter Hain reflects on the end of his ministerial career, he can at least console himself that he oversaw the re-establishment of devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Government departments are failing to carry out mandatory environmental assessments on almost two-thirds of their construction projects, MPs have warned.
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...
The IDA showed it was taking equality issues seriously when it hired big hitter Angela Mason as adviser to local government. She tells Joseph McHugh her plans
More than 730 vets, scientists and other specialist staff working for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have begun a 'work to rule' in protest at an imposed pay settlement.
Housing associations must work more closely with local authorities to speed up the construction of new homes, the head of a new government agency has said.
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...
