The government is heading for another public row with the unions this summer unless the tortuous negotiations over disputes in outsourced contracts are resolved swiftly, it emerged this week.
It is dramatic, to say the least: applications for asylum fell from 8,900 last October to 4,565 in March this year just as Tony Blair suggested and in line with his promise to cut the monthly...
A Bill to abolish NHS trusts and establish community health partnerships in Scotland will be one of the first priorities of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Executive, First Minister Jack...
Local authorities hoping to transfer individual housing estates to new landlords dominate the list of proposed stock transfers for 2003.
The list, published this week by the Office of the Deputy...
Leaders of business and public sector workers have exchanged insults over the role of private firms in providing public services.
Confederation of British Industry president Sir John Egan told the...
Growing mistrust of public bodies is being prompted by suspicions that they are not open and honest with service users, the Audit Commission has warned.
Research by pollster Mori has found that,...
Government plans to dock the housing benefit of tenants who indulge in antisocial behaviour have met a hostile response from local authorities and housing associations.
Work and Pensions Secretary...
The Local Government Association will use its annual conference in Harrogate in July to highlight authorities' fears they are being sidelined in the debate over asylum seekers.
A motion, proposed...
Councils could be given powers to take charge of empty homes and rent them to families in need.
Proposals to make better use of England's 300,000 long-standing empty homes were outlined on May 22...
It has had more false starts than the 1993 Grand National, but the end now finally looks in sight for the year-long firefighters' dispute.
In what has turned into a bitter test of union, central...
Ministers and doctors' leaders reached an impasse over the future of the NHS consultants' contract this week.
Amid a growing sense of crisis, the British Medical Association gave the government a...
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has become the first to claim a reward from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for meeting its interim Local Public Service Agreement targets.
The council...
Town hall leaders will use their top-level meeting with government ministers next week to demand assurances that councils will not be sidelined by the much-vaunted policy of 'new localism'.
Fears...
Plans to build thousands of affordable homes remain at risk in spite of a government pledge to smooth over the abolition of a major grant scheme.
A last-minute decision by the Office of the Deputy...
London boroughs have accused the government of 'spin' this week after five local education authorities were named and shamed as having the capital's worst performing schools, despite being recognised...
Councils in Scotland look set to be elected by proportional representation after a deal was agreed between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats for a new ruling coalition in Scotland.
MSPs...
Chief executives and social services directors must clarify their roles and lines of accountability to ensure there is no repeat of the Anna Climbié case, a report has warned.
Shared...
Anyone who thought that urban development corporations were as dead as the Thatcher government that created them should think again.
More than five years after the last generation of UDCs closed,...
The government aims to accelerate its foundation trust initiative by encouraging the first wave of the new organisations to help their neighbours achieve the status, too.
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is failing to meet its statutory duties to vulnerable children, and its services for adults are in need of 'radical overhaul', inspectors have found.
A damning...
Capita employees are to be given powers to complete criminal record checks and access police files in a move to prevent any further bottlenecks at the Criminal Records Bureau.
Home Secretary David...
Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week.
New proposals on housing homeless people...
Few finance managers feel able to express strongly positive views on the success of e-government plans
Last week's local election results will have given comfort to e-government enthusiasts...
The Commons' education select committee has launched an inquiry into the row over schools funding, calling on standards minister David Miliband to explain an alleged £530m shortfall.
Chair Barry...
Though voter apathy remains an unsolved conundrum, every party was able to claim a small victory
Audible sighs of relief could be heard around the Westminster village in the aftermath of the...
