The Audit Commission this week exposed 'unacceptable variations' in councils' charging policies for home care, and called on the government to produce formal guidance to ensure a more consistent...
Moves towards regionalisation in England have brought about no significant devolution of power, according to findings published by the Local Government Association on May 8.
Leaders of teaching unions voiced their scepticism about proposals to abandon the three-term school year at a hearing of the commission set up to examine the issue.
Politics is a cyclical game. Representatives of the party in power at Westminster are always liable to be told to get on their bikes at mid-term local elections.
The government is aiming to bring about up to 1,000 extra adoptions a year, with Prime Minister Tony Blair weighing in with a plea for a national register.
More than three-quarters of housing benefit claims made by people living in sheltered and supported accommodation were not reviewed by councils as required, in the run-up to a new funding system.
The government has come under renewed attack over transport spending with the Confederation of British Industry demanding a £209bn package for improving roads, rail and airport systems.
The NHS should become a public corporation at arm's length from government, with its own board and operational freedom, according to a new commission of independent experts.
London Transport's chief executive has admitted to MPs that London Underground would still face a 'funding gap' if the proposed £8bn public-private partnership went ahead.
Software supplier Microsoft and management consultant the Barony Group have launched a blueprint to help local authorities reach the government's targets for electronic delivery of services.
Scotland's largest public-private partnership scheme to rebuild Glasgow's secondary schools would not have been affordable without additional government funding, the city's finance director told...
The government launched a stinging attack on the quality of adoption services this week in what could be the first move to loosen local authorities' grip on social services.
Labour reaffirmed its faith in the Private Finance Initiative this week when local government minister Hilary Armstrong unveiled 14 new schemes, totalling £300m.
The government has opened the multi-million pound schools' IT market to a wider range of private companies, including Internet developers and film-makers, to try to increase competition and raise...
Councils must be given 'freedom and flexibility' to help deliver the government's ten-year strategy to renew deprived neighbourhoods, the Local Government Association warned this week.
The government has offered high-performing councils a 'third way' to hang on to housing stock, as registered social landlords were put on course to become the dominant housing providers by 2004.
The finance director of the largest local authority in England has questioned the value-for-money justification for public-private partnerships and admitted that she has doubts about the cost...
Money meant for frontline council services is being used to fund an ever-burgeoning local government pension bill instead. Local authorities in England and Wales spent almost £2bn in 1998/99 on...
The health service's financial problems look set to deepen, with health authorities and hospitals predicting major deficits for 2000/01, despite ministers' hopes of a return to financial balance.
