It's the biggest shake-up in social care for 30 years, with seamless children's services at its core. But already boundary disputes and rows about funding are spoiling the party
Becoming more efficient isn't an end in itself for local authorities. By improving the way they do things, councils can concentrate more on their main job managing resources and services in the...
A future Conservative government should match Margaret Thatcher's 'enterprise revolution' in industry, with a 'social enterprise revolution' in the public services, shadow health secretary Andrew...
The public sector could employ an additional 5,700 doctors, 12,800 nurses or 9,100 police officers annually with the money it loses through two forms of benefit fraud.
Welsh local government leaders are demanding financial help directly from the Treasury to plug the funding gap they claim has been created by a delay in publishing the results of Sir Michael Lyons'...
The Commission for Social Care Inspection has loosened its 'special action' measures against Birmingham City Council's children's services after an inspection this summer found 'promising prospects...
The construction industry this week issued a surprising call for more targets and red tape as representatives called attention to the slow rate of progress on public sector building projects.
There will be no 'fourth option' for funding improvements to housing stock and councils must use private money to achieve the decent homes standard, David Miliband was due to warn delegates in...
Housing associations have the potential to raise significantly more private finance, say lenders, even though total borrowing by the sector is already poised to exceed £30bn.
Government targets are frustrating social landlords' attempts to improve customer service and increase efficiency, according to a study by the Northern Housing Consortium.
As the Conservatives gear up for their Blackpool conference next week, they face their most important leadership contest in more than 40 years. Philip Johnston analyses the policies behind the beauty...
The Liberal Democrat leadership this week called on members to support a bold range of new policy proposals designed to give the party a real chance of electoral success by the end of the decade.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are meant to be as one on the need for radical public sector reform. But as Blair embarks on one of his last Party conferences as PM, his quest for a legacy is bringing...
The London bombings are putting long-established 'community cohesion' policies to the test and threatening to hijack them in the name of a quick fix for terrorism.
The legislative process needs to be pared down and made subject to 'sunset clauses' if more trust is to be built up between central and local government, argue George Jones and John Stewart
Social landlords are being sold short by the government in their attempts to build sustainable communities, the new leader of England's housing associations warned this week.
Former Labour minister Chris Leslie took over as the director of the New Local Government Network this week, promising to give local government a bigger say in the national policy debate.
Political parties that do not comply with the Electoral Commission's financial regulations could be barred from campaigning in future elections, Public Finance has learned.
At least 19 private developers will be invited to make detailed bids for grant after reaching the Housing Corporation's short list of organisations hoping to build affordable homes during the next...
One of the government's favoured think-tanks has said departmental evidence on their own targets is 'not credible', and has called for select committees to be given statutory duties to assess their...
Plans to publish league tables showing the efficiency of housing associations and developers that receive government grant have been scrapped by the Housing Corporation.
