Yes, the government missed its 2004/05 target for reducing the number of children in poverty but it has made some heartening progress towards the overall goal. Ian Kearns explains what it needs to...
The PM is to appoint a new independent 'ethics czar' to stem rising public concern over political misconduct. It doesn't go far enough, argues Colin Talbot
Gordon Brown gave an unambiguous signal that the days of plenty are over for the public sector as he used his Budget statement to announce that four Whitehall departments would have their expenditure...
A housing association whose chief executive was suspended by the Housing Corporation might have broken the law when it rehoused its own staff, according to inspectors.
Government funding of a Loyalist museum in the Shankill area of Belfast has been criticised as 'irregular' in a report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office.
Ministers have come under new pressure to build more homes after it was revealed that the number of households in England is increasing by more than 200,000 a year.
Up to 80 cottage hospitals in England are threatened with closure and yet NHS community hospitals are meant to be the next big thing. Tash Shifrin investigates
In this increasingly litigious society, local authorities have become used to being sued for everything from cracked pavements to housing problems. But is there now a new and serious threat to be...
Next week's Budget looks like being a return to form for the chancellor, thanks to a big rise in tax receipts. But is he on course to hit his political as well as economic targets? Peter Riddell...
The government narrowly failed to meet its ambitious target to reduce child poverty by a quarter by 2005, but senior sources are confident that the Department for Work and Pensions will achieve its...
Plans by local authorities to meet the 2010 decent homes target are being frustrated by delays in setting up stock transfers and arm's-length management organisations.
The proposed Planning Gain Supplement threatens to remove rather than strengthen the powers of local authorities that need to expand housing, while allowing central government to divert the cash...
Social Homebuy was launched a year ago with the promise of giving social tenants the chance to buy a part share in their homes. Neil Merrick visits an estate that is piloting the scheme
The government's goal of 50% participation in higher education is still a long way off. And top-up fees could make a bad situation worse, particularly for working-class students. Stephen Court...
Scottish Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm has given assurances that plans to transfer control of Glasgow's public housing stock to community ownership will go ahead despite a reported £300m...
The Local Government Association and unions have failed to reach an agreement over the benefit protection of existing members of the local government pension scheme, bringing the likelihood of strike...
City-regions offer a new take on local democracy, holding out the idea of governance that reflects the urban economic realities. But these will only work if the hinterland is also involved in...
Not for Scotland the path well trodden. While Westminster endorses market-based public service reforms, the Scottish Executive is ploughing its own furrow on education, health and immigration. Iain...
Claims that the government could be about to perform a U-turn and allow councils to invest directly in run-down homes have been dismissed by housing minister Yvette Cooper.
