Scottish Finance Minister Tom McCabe has demanded immediate assurances from Inverclyde Council that it will improve its performance following a damning report this week by the Accounts Commission.
Construction costs on the government's £25bn schools infrastructure programme could easily be cut to release more than £200m for frontline services, James Stewart has told Public Finance.
Wendy Thomson, the prime minister's principal adviser on public service reform, is to return to her native Canada to take up a professorship at McGill University in Montreal
The chair of the Charity Commission turned down Rada for a career in social policy. But the theatre's loss has been the voluntary sector's gain, writes Vivienne Russell
The government is in a flap about 'respect', or the lack of it as personified by gangs of feral youths wearing 'hoodies'. Is this a real problem or just society having one of its moral panics and,...
The government has pledged to help councils manage extra costs incurred by a decision to reverse reforms to the local government pension scheme, Public Finance has learned.
A Scottish council is set to become the subject of one of the most critical reports of a local authority's performance ever produced by the public spending watchdog, the Accounts Commission.
David Miliband has defended the government's widespread use of targets in its drive to improve local services but has pledged to scrap those that are hindering rather than helping progress.
The general election brought home to the government the country's desire for a return to local democracy. The LGA calls for this to be made a reality and its chair, Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart,...
One day soon, the British public are going to wake up and find that their prime minister has changed. But will they be able to tell the difference between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown? Tony Travers...
The first corporate manslaughter case against a council was thrown out because of the need to identify a 'controlling mind'. But there is no room for complacency, as a new law may shift the balance...
Quantifying savings in a meaningful way is going to be one of the toughest challenges of the government's efficiency drive, the man charged with securing more than £1bn in procurement gains has told...
The government's education plans for its third term will threaten working relations between schools and local government, teaching leaders warned this week.
The prime minister has retained some familiar faces as the next phase of public sector reform gets under way. This will tackle pensions, choice and private provision. Karen Day assesses the tasks...
Dissenting NHS voices claim the drive to improve access times to GPs has compromised other areas of patient choice. Seamus Ward asks if primary care can deliver flexibility as well as speed
Labour's first two terms saw local government marginalised and under ever greater central control. So how can new minister David Miliband improve the central/local relationship? George Jones and John...
Chancellor Gordon Brown has used his first two keynote speeches since the general election to issue a stark warning to public sector workers against excessive wage demands.
