Councils are not securing appropriate or cost-effective education for children with special educational needs, the local government watchdog warned this week.
The NHS must recruit many more consultant obstetricians and thousands of midwives to ensure a major shake-up in maternity services delivers better patient care, experts said this week.
Most policies are made at a national level and do not reflect England's true economic geography, which is at city or council level. Local optimisation means there must be more local decision-making
Rural regeneration was once top of the in-tray at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But other political priorities are preoccupying ministers, and public services in the...
As the UK rushes to improve the skills of its workforce, a door has opened for more private sector involvement in further and higher education. Is this filling a gap or taking over at the expense of...
Government health watchdogs have criticised the 'disgraceful' lack of co-ordinated effort in reducing the number of children who have to be taken to hospital following preventable injury.
A new government-sponsored commission is to examine ways to encourage more young people, women and individuals from ethnic minorities to become councillors.
The forthcoming Commission for Equality and Human Rights should review political parties' methods of selecting candidates for local elections, according to a think-tank.
Central government claims that there is no more money to fund adult social care 'ring hollow' as it is withholding an extra £1bn from the 2007/08 local government grant, councils have said.
Local authorities may have seriously underestimated the condition of their homes before the government embarked on its drive to bring them up to standard, according to a new study.
The scale of the impending cutbacks in public spending have been starkly illustrated this week as independent experts warned that the government will have to choose between cutting child poverty and...
Whitehall health officials this week conceded that they have taken on board the lessons of a failed hospital development after senior MPs slammed the project's management.
Despite record levels of investment, the public sector is seen to be in crisis. This is because services are suffering from having simplistic market models foisted on them, argues Unison's general...
Should the chief financial officer always be on a council's top management team? CIPFA's vice-president gives his views on the subject that has been exercising PF readers in recent weeks
Improving access to English lessons is one of the most useful steps councils can take to ensure migrant workers are better integrated into their communities, the local government watchdog said this...
US-style healthcare schemes are increasingly being imported into the NHS. But do they work on UK soil? Opinion is sharply divided within the medical profession and beyond. Seamus Ward investigates
Public bodies are well versed in EU procurement rules, which require various services to be put out to tender. But recent European Court judgments have muddied the water. Norman Ballantyne explains
The public would prefer health service managers made decisions about which treatments should be offered by the NHS, rather than MPs or local councillors, according to an NHS Confederation survey.
Council tax bills in Scotland have risen by an average of nearly 60% in cash terms over the past ten years, a local government finance report has revealed.
