John Prescott's announcement at the start of the Labour Party conference that top local authorities could start building homes again surprised just about everybody not least the Office of the...
Reforming council tax and equalising the balance of funding would be priorities for a first-term Conservative administration, according to the shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman.
Many local authorities find the Bellwin scheme to defray the costs of natural disasters less than useful, according to research published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Capital spending in Scotland is to rise by 40% over the next three years, providing more than £3bn for infrastructure, Finance and Public Services Minister Andy Kerr announced this week.
The battleground for the next general election was established this week as choice and the personalisation of public services, as the Labour Party began to flesh out its policies to 'empower' the...
Although the Home Office's latest police force performance figures caused widespread concern about the time officers spend behind their desks, they also contained some positive news about crime clear...
The government will come under renewed pressure to announce a wholesale review of council housing investment after a deal to look at alternative funding options was abandoned on the eve of the Labour...
Local government leaders are seeking urgent talks with the Office for National Statistics over fears that its 2003 mid-year population estimates are wrong, Public Finance has learned.
Audit Scotland has clashed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) over the spending watchdog's claim that more than £170m of public money is being lost through non-payment and...
Ministers have launched a drive to tackle joblessness and social exclusion in the same week that a £100m fund was announced to boost the economies of northern English regions.
A new tier of 'super-teachers' benefiting from financial incentives and specialist training should be created to teach at the most challenging schools, according to an influential committee of MPs.
One of the biggest criticisms levied at Sir Peter Gershon's Whitehall efficiency review is that any sincere attempt to quantify public sector waste has been lost in the resulting 'machismo' exhibited...
Liberal Democrats have distanced themselves from proposals they fear could lead to a more market-driven approach in the key campaigning areas of health and education.
Local government's pension scheme moved up the political agenda this week when Britain's biggest union, Unison, threatened to strike over changes to retirement plans.
The public thinks more choice in public services is important. But the majority of people are not willing to pay more to get it, and they consider that it is needed in some services more than others.
Scotland's permanent secretary has called on the Civil Service Commission to investigate the role of civil servants criticised in the Fraser report on the Holyrood Parliament.
Public service managers were this week challenged to put children's needs at the centre of their planning as the government published its blueprint for child-centred health and social care.
Regeneration minister Lord Rooker this week urged councils to work with the neighbourhood renewal agenda, after MPs said an atmosphere of 'mistrust and tension' was frustrating progress.
Housing associations have lost a long-running battle to avoid European Union procurement regulations after the UK government decided against challenging a European Commission ruling.
As councils prepare for ministerial pronouncements on the implementation of the Gershon agenda, Unison, Britain's biggest union, has expressed fears that the target of £6.5bn of savings by 2008 could...
Prime Minister Tony Blair's harmonious relations with Britain's unions disintegrated within hours of his speech to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, when the leaders of 11 public sector unions...
Public service reform is being undermined by a civil service inherently resistant to change and lacking in specialised skills, according to the Demos think-tank.
