Electoral Commission officials will report on the potential for fraud in all-postal ballot elections next week, following a review of the controversial voting methods piloted this summer.
The poor quality of financial management across local government and police, fire and health services is a cause for concern, the Audit Commission's annual report reveals this week.
The Local Government Association 'pulled rank' during firefighters' pay negotiations, it emerged this week, prompting accusations of political interference and an inevitable ballot for industrial...
Kingston-upon-Hull City Council must show 'genuine progress' against its corporate recovery plan when Audit Commission inspectors return there in October, the watchdog has warned.
Opposition to the Treasury's proposed cull of civil service staff will intensify at the Trades Union Congress's annual conference in Brighton next month, motions to the event indicate.
Social landlords that provide temporary accommodation have been assured that housing benefit will not be replaced with a new allowance paid directly to the tenant.
Puzzling omissions in new Financial Services Authority regulations have jeopardised arm's-length housing bodies' ability to provide insurance to thousands of tenants, it emerged this week.
Council tenants in Nottingham have voted in favour of an arm's-length management organisation after the local authority mounted a £200,000 publicity campaign.
The total value of government assets to be sold off in the next six years may exceed Gordon Brown's £30bn target, the man charged with finding the savings has told Public Finance .
Community health services might be cut back unless primary care trusts put proper systems in place to manage the new NHS funding system, a government watchdog has cautioned.
The rolling programme of in-depth Best Value audits of Scotland's 32 councils is now well under way, with the first report due to be published before the end of the summer.
Money intended to help 'unpopular' groups such as drug users and ex-offenders should be ring-fenced to ensure it gets through to the front line, MPs said this week.
The government's Women and Work Commission was universally welcomed by unions this week, but is unlikely to defuse the 'ticking time bomb' of equal pay claims in the public sector.
Whitehall is to devolve decision-making to local authorities in nine pilot areas from next year in the first tangible example of the government's commitment to localism.
Local government leaders are painting a gloomy picture of their ability to meet Sir Peter Gershon's efficiency targets, predicting inevitable service cuts and council tax hikes.
Critics have rounded on the government's five-year plan to slash crime rates, claiming many initiatives require longer-term solutions and dismissing others as mere 'gimmicks'.
Council leaders claimed this week that major reform of the local government finance system could be 'kicked into the long grass' as ministers announced a further inquiry after the 15-month Balance of...
The government agreed in principle to end the two-tier workforce across all public services this week after senior Cabinet ministers and the business lobby dropped their opposition.
Local authorities' role as providers of social care could be marginalised under proposals being considered by social services minister Stephen Ladyman.
MPs' demands for councils to be allowed to invest directly in housing have been firmly rejected by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which this week approved two more rounds of arm's-length...
