A report published last week summarises the state of social housing and offers some solutions to the dilemmas the sector faces. But it promises no quick solutions to a complex set of problems
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has defended its private finance programme for waste disposal, saying that councils are better protected from risk.
Whitehall's attempts at consultation leave a lot to be desired. But effective policy-making can only be achieved when there is a genuine process of engagement with all the different parties involved
Holyrood could face a radical shake-up after Scotland's May elections. So what difference would it make to public services? David Scott quizzes the key politicians
Bottled water will continue to be served in the House of Commons despite calls for it to be replaced with more economical and environmentally friendly tap water.
The government has changed the system for allocating Private Finance Initiative credits for council waste services, but campaigners say this will do little to improve environmental sustainability.
Council and housing association tenants should be encouraged to buy as little as 10% of their homes as a first step towards full ownership, social landlords were told this week.
Scottish councils have cut their financial reserves for the first time in recent years after facing 'significant and steadily increasing' costs, the Accounts Commission has found.
Despite the best efforts of the Disability Discrimination Act, too many disabled people are still treated as second-class citizens. The new equality duty on public sector organisations is intended to...
Organisations wishing to challenge contracts awarded by public bodies have been able to do so on the basis of judicial review. Not any longer, it would seem, if the decision to tender had been...
Rural regeneration was once top of the in-tray at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But other political priorities are preoccupying ministers, and public services in the...
Anti-nuclear campaigners this week accused Defence Secretary Des Browne of 'evasiveness' over the cost of the proposed Trident weapons replacement system.
The NHS must recruit many more consultant obstetricians and thousands of midwives to ensure a major shake-up in maternity services delivers better patient care, experts said this week.
Most policies are made at a national level and do not reflect England's true economic geography, which is at city or council level. Local optimisation means there must be more local decision-making
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.
Nobody was too surprised by the government's plan to create a new agency to take charge of housing and regeneration in England within the next two years.
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
The Gershon efficiency drive has probably saved billions of pounds. But the government's reluctance to reveal just how this was done might undermine the programme's other aim of regaining public...
Social care minister Ivan Lewis has responded to last week's damning report on social care for older people by calling for a 'new, fair settlement' between the state and individuals.
What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, the then Audit Commission chair James Strachan was reserved in his praise for councils' financial management. Shortly afterwards, he unexpectedly...
England's eight regional development agencies spent more than £5m last year running offices overseas, leading a senior Conservative MP to call them inefficient and wasteful.
