Scottish councils and public bodies have identified fraud and errors totalling £15m, following an investigation carried out as part of the National Fraud Initiative, Audit Scotland has disclosed.
Taking on local young people as caretakers has proved to be a winning idea for Richmond Housing Partnership. Its Paintbrush scheme has not only cut levels of graffiti and vandalism but also solved...
Transforming a failing school into an institution that includes and motivates all its pupils is a major challenge, but one that former footballer David Seddon relished when he took on Baxter College...
Research shows how tough prison can be on families but Sharon Berry's charity, Storybook Dads, has gone a long way towards bringing inmates and their children closer together. Joseph McHugh reports
Sweeping changes to the government's housing department have created the perfect opportunity to revive stalled building plans, a leading homeless charity has said.
MPs have called for an overhaul of civil service skills at the Ministry of Defence, warning that a failure to develop commercial awareness could undermine the government's Defence Industrial Strategy...
Introducing a market into local health provision can in theory increase user 'choice'. But in practice the most likely result is that a few giant firms will end up running all the services in ever-...
As all the parties compete for a fresh image, the LibDems have taken a lead by appointing England's youngest MP as a top Treasury spokeswoman. Vivienne Russell talked to her
David Miliband planted the idea of 'double devolution' when he was communities minister. Now the priority of his successor, Ruth Kelly, must be to explain what this concept means and how it will...
A £2.15bn ground-breaking agreement has brought benefits to the teaching profession in Scotland, a public sector watchdog has found. But a lack of performance measures makes it difficult to assess...
Town hall leaders have welcomed Sir Michael Lyons' latest report on local government reform, which gives a boost to the localism agenda as it calls for greater decentralisation.
The local government reform programme could be stymied by ministers' decision to publish a white paper that does not tackle the 'core issue' of finance, the former minister in charge has warned.
A Scottish council and its partners are seeking a power that could pave the way for a legally backed authority to co-ordinate services, including those administered by other public agencies.
We are delighted and proud that Unison, one of the largest trade unions in Europe, is again sponsoring the overall team award at the Public Servants of the Year Awards 2006.
A catalogue of central government failures strengthens the case for devolving more powers to local government. So why despite decades of official rhetoric and numerous inquiries is Whitehall so...
The chair of the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government says that there is now a consensus in favour of more decentralisation. But councils will have to raise their game to improve transparency and...
Local government is finally getting the attention it deserves, with its white paper and inquiry both due this year. But will anything change? Public Finance invited Sir Michael Lyons and a round...
