In the hothouse atmosphere of Whitehall, secrets have a habit of leaking out. Not so Alan Milburn's resignation as health secretary last week. Even his old sparring partner Gordon Brown was said to...
The government and Unison were back on a collision course this week after the prime minister announced that more services would be 'opened up' to the private sector and the union warned of strike...
The government has accepted union, industry and local government proposals to settle disputes over the two-tier workforce this week.
The announcement by local government minister Nick Raynsford...
Local Government Association chair Sir Jeremy Beecham has joined the Treasury committee that oversees preparation for UK entry into the euro.
Beecham told Public Finance that he had not seen the...
Critical inspection reports can undermine local government's attempts to improve services, the outspoken director of finance at the London Borough of Hackney said at the CIPFA conference at Harrogate...
|;¼ ?y criticised Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would be ranked as 'weak' if it were to undergo the same Audit Commission assessment process as local authorities, a...
Whitehall officials have held out an olive branch to local education authorities in an effort to quell the damaging row over schools funding that has been dogging the government for weeks.
Stephen...
It is inevitable that local government's code on the two-tier workforce will be now rolled out across the public sector, business leaders conceded this week, as final negotiations ended with an...
Sir Andrew Foster has called for integrated teams of inspectors drawn from the various public sector watchdogs to be set up to make the scrutiny regime more co-ordinated and effective.
The...
The government 'talks the talk' on granting the public sector more local autonomy, but when problems arise it immediately reverts to its centralist tendencies, the director of the Institute for...
Local authority finance experts this week demanded more investment autonomy from Whitehall, after a survey commissioned by Public Finance revealed widespread support for new freedoms.
Investment...
Local government minister Nick Raynsford has taken the first tentative steps towards full intervention at Hull City Council, warning the ruling Labour group that it has just six weeks to implement an...
The government will need to invest heavily to make a success of radical changes to the voting process urged this week by the Electoral Commission.
Proposed reforms include individual rather than...
Education action zones have not provided noticeable improvements in failing schools, it was confirmed this week.
A widely leaked Ofsted report published on June 1 said EAZs, run by councils,...
Lack of financial management in schools was a 'critical factor' in this year's funding crisis, the Local Government Association claimed this week.
In comments likely to further inflame the debate...
The Scottish Executive is to set up a watchdog to oversee the operation of charities in the wake of controversy over the funding of a cancer research body.
Communities minister Margaret Curran...
Community health councils have welcomed the decision to delay their abolition by three months.
CHCs were due to be wound up on September 1 and be replaced with a system that includes patients'...
Torbay Council has won a major concession from the Audit Commission after reaching a deal to drop legal action against its Comprehensive Performance Assessment score.
A joint statement on June 4...
There is a 'pressing case' to expand local government's ground-breaking deal on the two-tier workforce to the rest of the public sector, the former transport secretary Stephen Byers said this week...
Government plans to revive cottage hospitals are based on 'resources that do not exist and technology that has yet to be invented', the British Medical Association said this week.
In February,...
Schools with budget surpluses must be forced to hand them over to their struggling counterparts to help solve the education funding crisis, a teaching union has demanded.
The National Association...
Local authority bosses have been armed with statistics on private sector salaries to rebut allegations that they are overpaid.
The information has been issued by the Society of Local Authority...
The Scottish Parliament failed to consider the cost implications when it legislated to provide mainstream teaching for pupils with special education needs, Audit Scotland has found.
In a report...
Local government employers this week rubbished union proposals for a £6.50 an hour minimum wage in the sector, claiming it would add £2bn to council wage bills and force £100-a-year tax rises on to...
