'No blank cheques' was Chancellor Gordon Brown's warning to public sector workers, after pledging £40bn to the NHS in the Budget. Last week's pay settlement for 300,000 health service staff showed...
The NHS could save millions of pounds each year and promote better health by playing a more proactive role in local communities, a King's Fund report says this week.
A new public service ethos should be built into the procurement process to allow public bodies to test the suitability of potential providers, a think-tank has said.
Birmingham and Bradford city councils could face another six months of uncertainty before the government decides whether it will impose mayoral referendums on them, after the Electoral Commission's...
Britain's largest public sector union has rounded on the Audit Commission and accused it of trying to use Comprehensive Performance Assessments to promote privatisation, Public Finance has learned...
Trade unions have reacted with anger to the Local Government Best Value Review findings, unveiled this week, claiming that ministers have failed to tackle adequately the contentious issue of the two-...
The future outline of English regional government was laid out on May 9 when Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers launched the regions white paper.
The teaching unions' campaign for a 35-hour working week was dealt a blow on May 8 when the School Teachers' Review Body refused to impose a cap on working hours.
The Northern Ireland Executive's financial crisis has been alleviated by a £200m settlement from the Treasury, along with the gift of defunct security installations and new borrowing powers that...
Claims that Downing Street could halt future mayoral elections because of fears they might lead to increasing support for neo-Nazi parties and other fringe candidates were dismissed this week.
Union leaders have opened another front in the local government pay dispute, writing to new administrations to urge them to 'look after the interests' of staff.
A £90m Private Finance Initiative scheme for schools in Newcastle was this week heralded as 'the future of local service provision in the region', after a historic agreement extended workers'...
District Audit, the biggest supplier of accounting information to the Audit Commission, has uncovered £40m of public sector fraud in 2000/01, according to its annual report.
Local government leaders are demanding an urgent meeting with the government to clarify the effects that a World Trade Organisation agreement will have on local authorities.
The Department of Health has paved the way for a rapid increase in the number of managers in Primary Care Trusts this week after they were given the freedom to spend what they need on management.
Schools in England's most crime-ridden areas are being offered their own personal police officers as part of the government's latest initiative to cut down on truancy and anti-social behaviour.
Money will follow the patient. Trusts will be paid on results. Hospitals that treat more patients will receive more money. GP-led commissioning bodies will be able to scrap deals with local NHS care...
Backbench councillors and the general public feel 'disillusioned' with the introduction of Cabinet-style local leadership because they are excluded from the democratic process, MPs were told this...
The Criminal Records Bureau has promised to rectify its 'appalling' service standards after apologising to nearly 100 local authorities that had complained bitterly of an 'administrative fiasco'.
