The Standards Commission for Scotland, set up almost a year ago to investigate allegations of misconduct against councillors and members of public bodies, has launched its first investigation.
Landlords providing services for people in sheltered housing will receive £15m less next year after an independent review warned that costs were spiralling out of control.
Battle lines are being drawn across the public services after the interim conclusions of the Treasury's wide-ranging efficiency review, calling for swingeing civil service job cuts and annual savings...
Radical reform of the council tax is on the way but it will be at least 12 months before a replacement system is drawn up and the details finalised, Public Finance has been told.
The government is expected to introduce severe measures to limit 'benefit tourists' if the number of migrants from eastern Europe exceeds its expectations.
Scottish councils have told ministers they are entitled to the entire £47m that is Scotland's share of the extra expenditure recently allocated for the UK by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Plans to revitalise England's secondary school estate took an important step forward this week as schools minister David Miliband unveiled the 14 local education authorities that will spearhead the...
In these times of thrift, it is perhaps ironic that the public sector has turned towards a British institution synonymous with risk to solve its financial conundrums: the City of London.
The regeneration of 39 of the most deprived areas of England is being hindered by poor financial reporting and strained relations with local authorities, the National Audit Office warned this week.
Only one in five councils in England and Wales has implemented the historic single status agreement on pay and conditions six years after it was signed, a survey from the GMB union has found.
'Fundamental flaws' in the London Borough of Southwark's planning processes meant auditors were 'unable to refute entirely allegations of corrupt or improper practices' after officers granted...
The head of the consortium that will manage the government's £125m fund to help charities be more effective in public service delivery hopes to use some of the money to test the viability of long-...
Chancellor Gordon Brown's review of the Private Finance Initiative should stipulate that the rules that are mandatory for NHS PFI disclosure should apply to the whole of the public sector, according...
Britain's commissioner for correctional services has strongly denied MPs' accusations that the treatment of youth offenders is a costly, ineffective failure.
John Prescott's department is this week trying to persuade the home secretary to flex his political muscle and join the battle to avoid another year of politically damaging council tax hikes, Public...
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Qualifications Authority were in urgent talks this week to try to resolve a dispute over fees that could bring chaos to the examination...
Public service leaders are demanding a 'substantive' role in the Treasury's wide-ranging efficiency review amid mounting concerns that ministers will impose 'unrealistic' and 'unworkable' reforms on...
Millions of pounds are being poured into rundown estates in northern England as ministers deny claims that too much housing investment is concentrated in the South.
Scottish local authority leaders this week defended a proposal that councillors should receive a basic annual salary of £25,000 about half the amount paid to members of the Scottish Parliament.
Normal political debate has pretty much been forgotten amid the tumult of the Hutton Inquiry report and the vote over university top-up tuition fees, but in recent days senior Labour figures have...
