The MRSA superbug has struck fear into the hearts of hospital patients throughout the UK. But now, with an election expected, the government claims the health service is winning its battle against...
The Private Finance Initiative has not gone away it's just adapted to meet changing times. Mark Hellowell explores the opportunities and pitfalls in the new areas that the programme is expanding...
Unpublished research by the Conservative party has found that rural and smaller primary schools are resorting to 'drastic measures' to meet the national workload agreement, Tim Collins has told...
Gordon Brown heralded root-and-branch reforms to the regulation of public services as he used his Budget statement to announce plans to slash the number of inspectorates from 11 to four.
Directly elected mayors were once ministerial flavour of the month but the policy was resoundingly rejected by voters. Now, even John Prescott has converted to the idea. David Harding reports
Ealing council was improving by leaps and bounds, the Audit Commission itself said so. So when its 'good' assessment was downgraded to 'weak', the London borough went to court and won
Almost 150 councillors, tenants and trade unionists lobbied Parliament this week, claiming local authorities must be granted a fourth option for meeting the decent homes standard.
Scotland's devolved administration has shown how it intends to keep right on to the end of the road and how much the journey is likely to cost Scottish taxpayers.
Private developers and other bodies that get the go-ahead to join a £200m social housing programme will automatically be permitted to compete with registered social landlords for larger grants later...
Almos are the popular answer for cash-strapped councils wanting to upgrade their homes without hiving them off. But their powers are limited compared with housing associations. John Perry explains...
A £500m reduction in benefit fraud by the Department for Work and Pensions has been wiped out by rising overpayments to claimants, the DWP's permanent secretary admitted to MPs this week.
Housing associations must fight off further bureaucracy while continuing to influence policymaking, according to the new chief executive of the National Housing Federation.
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee will ask the National Audit Office to investigate how government departments manage their annual budgets, after it emerged that 20 out of 24 have overspent...
The Scottish Executive has published its first infrastructure investment plan, setting out a long-term, multibillion-pound scheme for improving Scotland's public services.
It is 25 years since the 1980s political satire, Yes, Minister, first hit our screens. But its portrayal of the senior civil service's success in resisting ministerial reforms is probably even more...
Beefing up city and county regions might paradoxically be the most effective way of putting the local into 'new localism' in the twenty-first century, argues Gerry Stoker
