The ratings agency Standard & Poor's has issued its first rating for a local authority in Britain. Huntingdonshire District Council has been awarded a triple-A long-term issuer credit rating.
Two reports on the British military operation in Kosovo have found that troops had to contend with excessive workloads, insecure communications equipment and substandard accommodation.
Embattled National Health Service managers faced another dose of bitter medicine this week as they were accused of being their own worst enemies when it comes to change.
Asylum seekers must be offered more than just a roof over their heads in the provinces if the government's new dispersal policy is to prove successful, according to an Audit Commission report,...
The Audit Commission this week exposed 'unacceptable variations' in councils' charging policies for home care, and called on the government to produce formal guidance to ensure a more consistent...
Politics is a cyclical game. Representatives of the party in power at Westminster are always liable to be told to get on their bikes at mid-term local elections.
Most Whitehall departments have delivered on the myriad targets set out in the Public Service Agreements, despite the fact that Treasury Chief secretary Andrew Smith believed them to be too...
More than three-quarters of housing benefit claims made by people living in sheltered and supported accommodation were not reviewed by councils as required, in the run-up to a new funding system.
The government must introduce legislation to help improve adoption services and deliver a joined-up approach, the Local Government Association said this week.
Labour reaffirmed its faith in the Private Finance Initiative this week when local government minister Hilary Armstrong unveiled 14 new schemes, totalling £300m.
Councils must be given 'freedom and flexibility' to help deliver the government's ten-year strategy to renew deprived neighbourhoods, the Local Government Association warned this week.
London Transport's chief executive has admitted to MPs that London Underground would still face a 'funding gap' if the proposed £8bn public-private partnership went ahead.
The Ministry of Defence claimed this week it was on target to meet its Public Service Agreement of delivering £700m worth of receipts by 2002 from the sale of its surplus assets.
The government has offered high-performing councils a 'third way' to hang on to housing stock, as registered social landlords were put on course to become the dominant housing providers by 2004.
Housing associations should not overstretch themselves by 'dabbling' in too many new activities, according to the chief executive of one of London's largest registered social landlords.
The chief inspector of nuclear installations told MPs this week that concerns that a public-private partnership for the troubled British nuclear industry would reduce safety were unfounded.
The government this week promised £10m in emergency aid to local authorities coping with large numbers of asylum seekers, but Home Office ministers backtracked on a promise to take responsibility for...
All Private Finance Initiative schemes could be scrutinised for value for money by Westminster after ministers this week announced a fundamental review of the way central government is audited.
