Education watchdogs have attacked the standard of sports lessons in England's schools, claiming that only a third are rated 'good' or better.
In a report published on June 16, Ofsted inspectors...
In the hothouse atmosphere of Whitehall, secrets have a habit of leaking out. Not so Alan Milburn's resignation as health secretary last week. Even his old sparring partner Gordon Brown was said to...
Northern Ireland's comptroller and auditor general John Dowdall, an honorary CIPFA member, was made a CB in the Queen's birthday honours list on June 14.
There were knighthoods for Metropolitan...
The government and Unison were back on a collision course this week after the prime minister announced that more services would be 'opened up' to the private sector and the union warned of strike...
The new health service watchdog must be more objective, less prone to mistakes and more supportive than its predecessor, the NHS Confederation has warned.
The managers' body surveyed more than 40...
A £250m scheme to help public sector workers find homes in high-cost areas will fail to meet its target of assisting 10,000 people by next April, says the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister....
There is a 'pressing case' to expand local government's ground-breaking deal on the two-tier workforce to the rest of the public sector, the former transport secretary Stephen Byers said this week...
The government's NHS modernisation plans were boosted this week as the British Medical Association sent out ballot forms effectively urging its GP members to accept new contract proposals.
The...
Two hospitals on the government's short list to become foundation trusts this autumn are the subject of 'serious' financial and managerial concerns at the Audit Commission, it was revealed this week...
The government's patient choice scheme risks increasing inequality in the NHS, the King's Fund warned this week.
Its report, What is the real cost of more patient choice? , said extending patients...
Community health councils have welcomed the decision to delay their abolition by three months.
CHCs were due to be wound up on September 1 and be replaced with a system that includes patients'...
Service in some English hospitals is now worse than it was in 2000, the Conservatives claimed this week.
The party compared waiting lists in March to those in December 2000. It found that at 53 of...
Prison reform experts have slammed the government's slow response to concerns about overcrowding in UK jails in the wake of yet another critical report by the sector's watchdog.
Following a damning...
Government plans to revive cottage hospitals are based on 'resources that do not exist and technology that has yet to be invented', the British Medical Association said this week.
In February,...
The Food Standards Agency has come under fire from both environment minister Michael Meacher and consumer groups over the merits of organic and genetically modified food.
Heated exchanges have...
Future investment in public services will suffer if Britain fails to join the euro, European commissioner Neil Kinnock has warned.
In an interview with Public Finance , Kinnock, who is vice...
A Bill to abolish NHS trusts and establish community health partnerships in Scotland will be one of the first priorities of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Executive, First Minister Jack...
Leaders of business and public sector workers have exchanged insults over the role of private firms in providing public services.
Confederation of British Industry president Sir John Egan told the...
The government is creating a new NHS internal market and it is unclear whether it will lead to better patient care, the King's Fund claimed this week.
Ministers have consistently denied they are...
Ministers and doctors' leaders reached an impasse over the future of the NHS consultants' contract this week.
Amid a growing sense of crisis, the British Medical Association gave the government a...
The rising cost of primary care drugs and clinical negligence claims has thrown NHS Wales's finances into chaos, it was claimed this week, with overall deficits of £44.1m threatening financial...
The government's vision of NHS care provided by a mix of public and private sector bodies moved a step closer this week.
Private firms, including some from overseas, have been invited to bid to run...
The government has lined up a number of concessions on its foundation trust initiative in an attempt to ensure its safe passage.
Following last week's muted rebellion, the Health and Social Care (...
The government aims to accelerate its foundation trust initiative by encouraging the first wave of the new organisations to help their neighbours achieve the status, too.
Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week.
New proposals on housing homeless people...
