John Hutton, the government minister for public service reform, last week vowed that central targets would continue, despite mounting criticism from local councils and think-tanks such as the Social...
Local government leaders threw down a challenge to ministers this week, volunteering to take on a range of tough new responsibilities in exchange for greater freedom from central regulation.
The rules of the much-debated Private Finance Initiative game are about to change. The Office for National Statistics is soon expected to start counting a new tranche of PFI deals against public...
Senior trade unionists have called on Chancellor Gordon Brown to make good his commitment to the 2004 Warwick accord, amid concerns that public employers are using a loophole in the two-tier...
Social landlords are being sold short by the government in their attempts to build sustainable communities, the new leader of England's housing associations warned this week.
New Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has told local government leaders that he will be urging central government departments to allow local authorities more flexibility in the way they spend their...
Whitehall should be subject to a performance inspection regime similar to the one already in place for local government, the head of the Office of Government Commerce said this week.
A strategic health authority at the centre of a row over whether it was rushing the transfer of primary care trust services has denied it jumped the gun.
The majority of district councils are not providing good services across the board, the local government watchdog said this week as it prepared to consult on a new inspection framework.
New Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has indicated that he could tighten up Whitehall's decision-making to help restore trust in the machinery of government.
The Prudential Code has not led to councils abandoning leasing for loans as predicted, but finance managers say it has freed them to borrow for major projects that will save money in the long term
Schools are improving, but some are still performing well below their best. Ofsted chief David Bell explains how a lean, mean, new inspection regime will sweep up these laggards and help them to...
Current UK procurement rules were drawn up decades before the Internet existed and globalisation took off. Now draft regulations aim to bring these up to date and put a new EU directive into effect
As the TUC and government square up for their annual seaside contest, ministers face a movement riven with divisions and agonising about its future. Judy Hirst predicts tough times ahead for public...
A new dawn of co-operation between central and local government broke this week as Education Secretary Ruth Kelly indicated her willingness to work closely with councils on her planned education...
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned all British local authorities that they must quickly develop emergency plans to combat terrorism and deal with the aftermath of a potential...
Former Labour minister Chris Leslie took over as the director of the New Local Government Network this week, promising to give local government a bigger say in the national policy debate.
Audit Commission inspectors have promised to discover more about the work of housing associations after just two-thirds of landlords said they were satisfied with a new inspection system.
A leading race-relations expert has called for high standards of political accountability following the London bombings amid threats of an extremist backlash.
The Department of Health has written an urgent letter to strategic health authorities urging them to stop drawing up commissioning plans for when primary care trusts end their provider role in 2008.
