Councils were given an early Christmas present this week, when they were told they would no longer be responsible for finding £3bn in schools' and police authority savings called for in the Gershon...
Labour faces the embarrassment of going into next year's general election defending a record of rising homelessness after ministers admitted that numbers will continue increasing for another three...
The government awarded a contract for five more private sector treatment centres this week, despite anecdotal evidence that patients are unhappy with the initiative.
Council leaders in Scotland have warned that the Executive's funding settlement for local government will not be enough to prevent substantial council tax rises over the next three years.
Local government pension deficits have tripled to around £30bn over the past three years, but council scheme managers have been urged not to panic as they strive to meet the escalating cost of...
Town hall leaders are warning that the £1bn cash injection promised by Gordon Brown does nothing to tackle the underlying pressures on council tax bills, which could still soar in future years.
All children's services, from playgroups to prisons, are to be subject to a radical joint inspection regime under proposals announced by Ofsted this week.
The Gershon efficiency review will contribute to growth of almost 50% in the UK public sector outsourcing market over the next three years, it was predicted this week.
The CBI has attacked the 'confusing and vague' plans drawn up by Whitehall departments to meet the £21.5bn Gershon efficiency drive and warned of 'serious concerns' that it may fail.
Chancellor Gordon Brown was accused this week of using accounting tricks to inflate his civil service relocation figures by including posts moved before Sir Michael Lyons' proposals for Whitehall...
Comprehensive Performance Assessments will scrutinise councils' financial management much more rigorously from 2005 but the number of inspections will be slashed by two-thirds.
More than a third of all local authorities and three-quarters of county councils are using their new prudential borrowing powers, reveals a survey by the Local Government Association.
Stripping councils of their education funding powers will leave schools isolated and hinder the drive towards more integrated services, local government leaders warned this week.
NHS foundation trusts are lobbying ministers to be allowed to bid for the next wave of private sector health care contracts, the Healthcare Financial Management Association conference heard last week.
A single co-ordinating body must be set up to reduce drastically the bureaucratic burden councils are forced to bear because of the regulation and inspection regime, town hall leaders are demanding.
College leaders have called on Ofsted to review its 'biased' inspection criteria, after the inspectorate branded the number of failing colleges a 'national disgrace'.
The head of a powerful construction consortium has warned the Office of Government Commerce that plans to reform the Private Finance Initiative are flawed.
Half of all crime reduction partnerships examined by the National Audit Office have been delayed by up to a year due to bureaucracy and might not achieve their 2002/05 targets.
