Supporters say social enterprises marry private efficiency with public values, offering innovative low-cost, high-quality services. But a wider definition of value for money is needed to get the best...
'Choice-based letting' allows social housing applicants to choose where they want to live, rather than have officials decide for them. And soon it will be available in every English council. Neil...
Public Service Agreements were meant to keep track of what departments do with taxpayers' money. The problem is that no-one, least of all MPs, pays them much attention. Colin Talbot and Carole...
Happy New Year. If you are an adult with a disability you now have two years left to receive preventative social care that could stop your condition deteriorating further, the Local Government...
Hardworking and 'heroic' civil servants are being let down by a Whitehall culture that rewards failure and ignores successful individuals, a report by a leading think-tank has claimed.
Well done to all of you who took part your comprehensive knowledge of the news is impressive. Particular congratulations to our winner Sue Alliott at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,...
With a Brown premiership predicted for any time soon, all bets are off as to what it will mean for one of Blair's most cherished 'legacy' issues public service reform. Tony Travers hacks through a...
The main reason why so many big outsourcing contracts run aground is the lack of any sort of mechanism to solve disputes before they get out of hand, argues Mark Amsden. But there is a wealth of...
Two councils have received the go-ahead to raise £200m through the Private Finance Initiative as part of their efforts to meet the decent homes standard.
Scottish councils are to receive extra revenue funding of £393m in 2007/08 an increase of 4.7% on last year, Finance Minister Tom McCabe has announced.
There must be no back-pedalling on reform as the health service seeks to recover financial balance, NHS chief executive David Nicholson told the Healthcare Financial Management Association annual...
Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell and a senior adviser to the prime minister this week urged Whitehall to focus on a four-pronged plan to improve public services amid further evidence that...
Another 49 councils are to set up systems offering tenants more choice over where they live, with £1.3m being awarded to 12 consortiums for choice-based lettings schemes.
No sooner had Chancellor Gordon Brown finished adding up his promised £36bn investment in education over the next four years than the economists were asking the inevitable question: 'How much of that...
Business rates need to be brought urgently back under local government control, argues Paul Raynes. The current system is inefficient, keeps councils in bondage, involves huge, unnecessary financial...
The government's target is to halve the numbers of UK children living in poverty by 2010. But success rests on adequate funding, and campaigners doubt that enough money will be provided in next year'...
Housing associations could miss out on grants to build homes if they fail to work effectively with local authorities, the Housing Corporation warned this week.
As local authorities square up to the housing and care demands of older people, new public-private partnerships are emerging to enable housing associations to meet their needs. Melinda Phillips...
Halfway through its life, the government's efficiency programme is ahead of its targets. But with a fiscal squeeze on the way and no let-up in spending plans, the public sector is going to feel the...
