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.
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...
Investing in the skills of disabled people could net the economy an extra £35bn over the next three decades as well as helping to tackle child poverty, according to research.
Scottish local government finance could be heading for a radical change if a move to outcome budgeting is sanctioned by the new Executive, CIPFA delegates heard on June 13.
Scottish Water has outperformed its operating targets, reducing costs by £160m a year or 40% in real terms, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland has disclosed.
Informing the public is more than a duty, it's a challenge to make your audiences sit up and take notice. Wychavon council and the other winners of the Public Reporting and Accountability Awards have...
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...
The public sector's experience of reorganisation is that it is never-ending and often unsuccessful. But it doesn't have to be that way, provided its leaders are willing to learn lessons from the...
The NHS and local authorities must collaborate over continuing health care but uncertainty about the framework is making this difficult, and the lack of a dispute resolution procedure will not help...
Whitehall departments and government agencies are failing to implement measures to combat climate change, according to a survey of civil servants published this week.
The imminent new money laundering regulations have spurred on CIPFA's plans for a practice assurance scheme for self-employed members. The basic framework will be decided at the AGM
The need to base public service reforms on market disciplines has been an uphill battle for the Labour government. But there really is no practicable alternative, argues Anthony Browne
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...
It seems the NHS is now safe in everyone's hands. But while its founding principles remain intact it will have to undergo radical surgery to keep up with twenty-first century demands, argues former...
Britain's energy policies are an 'incoherent hotchpotch' that could fail to secure crucial supplies, tackle climate change and combat global poverty, independent experts have warned.
'It'll never last,' tends to be the not-so-cynical reaction when we read of apparently loved-up celebrities jealously guarding their wealth and status by drawing up complex pre-nuptial agreements....
It might be a brick too far to herald the return of the council house, but a Gordon Brown government will, it seems, recognise the need to provide more social housing, and be on the lookout for new...
Plans to set up seven 'super-councils' in Northern Ireland are to be re-examined. This paves the way for the formation of a larger number of authorities and a delay in their establishment until 2011.
A major rethink is needed on the government's reform programme. Central to that is the concept of 'public value' and new ways of getting public sector workers on board. Brendan Barber outlines a...
The government's legal reforms have given local authorities more flexibility to deliver services in the most efficient way, with initiatives such as the London Authorities' Mutual Ltd insurance...
Town hall leaders this week gave a cautious welcome to the government's controversial plan to refer national infrastructure planning decisions to an independent commission.
Ambitions to regenerate the Thames Gateway area will fail unless costs are tackled and Whitehall departments and agencies co-operate, government auditors warned this week.
Whitehall departments and other large public sector employers will be subject to a compulsory carbon emissions trading scheme under government plans to meet Britain's future energy needs.
