Primary school pupils could be measured against individual development targets under plans to boost social mobility being considered by the Cabinet Office, Public Finance has learnt.
A council that covers the biggest area of all Scottish local authorities has 'significant strengths', but needs to improve the corporate management of its decentralised structure, a public spending...
In the dispute over the Local Government Pension Scheme the government has indicated that it may give trade unions concessions on the issue of protection.
The FE white paper rightly recognises that adults and young people have different learning needs. But more needs to be done to provide adult learners with greater choice and lighter-touch planning
Local government workers are not striking over unreasonable pension demands. They simply want equal treatment with other public sector employees and a fair replacement for the '85-year' rule
The latest guidance issued to councils on 'efficiency gains' is clearer and acknowledges the importance of quality. But there are still gaps, not least how all these savings should be measured....
Rumours of the PFI's death have been greatly exaggerated. With its lengthy inflexible contracts and high annual costs, its days were looking numbered in an era of choice. But then Gordon Brown came...
Self-governing trust schools are New Labour's latest big idea for education. But confusion still reigns over their structure and how they will be governed in practice. Tash Shifrin investigates
Local authorities could start issuing more capital bonds as an alternative to central government borrowing or the Private Finance Initiative, according to credit rating agency Standard & Poor's.
A leading local authority has been told it cannot advertise employment training courses for deprived ethnic minority groups at Jobcentre Plus offices following a dispute over the Race Relations Act.
Town halls will need more money if they are to help the government achieve their ambitious carbon emission targets, local government leaders warned this week.
Scottish backbench councillors are to be paid a basic salary of £15,452 a year but leaders will receive less than that recommended by an independent committee.
Local government reforms are threatened by a 'demographic deficit' unless fresh talent is attracted into the sector, an influential think-tank is warning.
The local government pensions dispute remains in deadlock, despite emergency talks convened by the government this week following a one-day strike that disrupted council services across the UK.
Critics of choice in public services claim that ordinary people don't want it. Quite the opposite, argues Julian Le Grand it's the least well-off who stand to gain the most
Nurses and doctors from developing countries can no longer be poached by the NHS, but other richer nations do not have the same restrictions. Ministers Rosie Winterton and Gareth Thomas call for a...
Police forces reacted with a mixture of delight and dismay after Home Secretary Charles Clarke set out merger plans for three more English regions this week.
Chancellor Gordon Brown this week injected further momentum into the government's devolution agenda but the tone emerging from Number 11 points towards a regionalist approach at the expense of...
The Local Government Pension Scheme's 85-year rule has to go, even for some existing members. With members living so much longer, carrying on with it is neither fair nor affordable, whatever the...
The Audit Commission has roundly condemned Bradford City Council's planned £1.2bn procurement of an asset management programme as 'failed', 'inadequate' and 'falling short' of the standards expected...
