Over the next two years, nine new English unitary authorities will be created out of 44 existing district and county councils. Paul O'Brien discusses how to take the pain out of the process
The Learning and Skills Council will be dissolved and town halls will take control of the £7bn spent each year in colleges and sixth forms, ministers confirmed this week.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has launched a draft strategy on participatory budgeting, aiming to give members of the public more say in how public money is spent.
Local authorities are set to be given more powers to crack down on cowboy builders. At the same time, they will have to spend less time regulating firms that provide a good service.
Doctors and patients have cast doubts on the value of the government's extended Patient Choice scheme as ministers did their best to advertise its virtues in advance of an April 1 roll-out.
John Swinney has insisted that the Scottish government's local income tax plans are 'robust' and can be delivered, despite the flood of criticism that greeted the publication of his consultation...
Northern Ireland's 26 district councils are to merge into 11 new councils. A decision of the Northern Ireland Executive was opposed only by the two Ulster Unionist ministers after intensive...
Scots would get their biggest tax cut in a generation under the Scottish National Party government's plans for a local income tax, Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed.
Benefits reform is back centre stage, with new get-tough policies for a part-privatised jobs service. The welfare czar talks to Judy Hirst about breaking the dependency habit
Next week's statement will be a severe test for the chancellor. There's a squeeze on spending and no appetite for tax rises, so what are Alistair Darling's options? PF convened a round table of...
John Swinney has achieved the impossible twice in his first nine months as Scotland's finance secretary. But can the former Scottish National Party leader score a much-needed hat trick? He talked...
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has announced a white paper on empowering citizens after a government survey found that more than nine out of ten people thought local councils' accountability...
