Senior MPs were this week critical of news that the partner of a senior Labour minister is the front-runner to chair the Audit Commission.
Members of the Commons' public administration select...
'I hope he's got a way out of this,' a sceptical union leader muses of his colleague Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. Gilchrist's 50,000 members are poised for the first...
CPA is too inflexible, IDA admits
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment is too inflexible, according to the acting executive director of the Improvement and Development Agency.
John O'Brien...
NHS managers have given a surprisingly strong vote of confidence in the Private Finance Initiative's ability to deliver quality, modern facilities for the health service, according to a survey from...
Senior figures at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister this week said they were 'open to any suggestions' that would improve the supply of affordable housing.
Appearing before the Commons' urban...
Crucial parts of government plans for housing finance need to go back to the drawing board, according to the Local Government Association.
In the consultation paper, The way forward for housing...
The Treasury's reforms of the 'green book' herald a new era of rigorous investment appraisal throughout the public sector, according to two influential think-tanks.
Gordon Brown's root-and-branch...
Local authorities have vowed to step up the campaign to wrest more freedoms from Whitehall, despite the Treasury embracing a 'new localism' for decision-making.
Both young and old British citizens have little interest in local politics, with more than half failing to vote in this year's council elections, a survey published to coincide with Local Democracy...
When Norman Perry became chief executive of the Housing Corporation two years ago, one of his first tasks was to oversee the setting up of a new inspectorate.
Business will not be forced to provide workers in public-private partnerships with the same terms and conditions as those in the public sector, the director-general of the CBI has warned.
Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell was fighting this week to distance himself from a constituency funding scandal that threatens to mar his term of office.
The Commons' Public Administration Select Committee is to launch a wide-ranging inquiry into the effects of targets and league tables on the public services.
Too many social service departments are failing to provide well for their clients, according to a new report from inspectors. Sixteen of the 30 councils that have had their social services reviewed...
A row over which section of government will pick up the tab for the impending firefighters' strike is looming, with councils fearing that they could again be left to bear the costs.
Proposals by Scotland's first minister to improve the workings of the European Union have been backed by the body that represents Europe's devolved governments, local authorities and regions.
An independent commission to investigate low and unequal pay across local government has been hit by a new setback after the professor due to chair it demanded a reduction in personnel.
The custodians of the capital's double yellow lines have become the latest group of council workers to strike over London weighting as unions aim to hit councils' income.
The unions are to press again for a fair wages resolution in public-private partnerships following the promise of a review into the two-tier workforce last week. But the private sector has...
The Liberal Democrats have voted in favour of a wide policy review of public services which sets out plans for radical decentralisation and a health tax to fund the NHS.
Estelle Morris's political prospects had been looking so promising. Popular with teachers and the public alike, it seemed a certainty that she would be a long-standing and well-liked education...
The Fire Brigades Union has dismissed suggestions that it will co-operate with the independent review into the fire service now that a prominent trade unionist has joined it.
