Despite its claims that the public audit model it encourages 'ensures against Enron-style failure', the Audit Commission has again warned public bodies to improve their financial management following...
Ministers this week handed local authorities £37m to encourage popular schools to expand to try to prevent the annual parental scramble to enrol children at high-performing institutions.
The harsh realities of the local authority pensions 'black hole' hit home this week, when pension fund losses at Scottish councils were estimated at more than £2bn.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has asked for an early meeting to put forward its bid for a share of the Scottish Executive's reported £500m underspend.
The government stands accused of compromising the Audit Commission's independence after Public Finance was given a document revealing that ministers intend to force immediate penalties on...
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published draft capital finance regulations that will govern the new system of prudential borrowing for local authorities.
A local authority was left seething this week after ministers turned down its application to place 13,000 council homes in the hands of an arm's-length management organisation.
Bromsgrove District Council has been warned it must quickly implement 'more effective leadership', following a second damning report from the Audit Commission in just 16 months.
Local government's deal to end the two-tier workforce is off to a slow start with up to 40% of councillors and officers still unaware of what it requires them to do, a survey from Unison has found.
Money for housing management and maintenance is to be redistributed from London to the north of England.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said that new formulas for paying £3bn worth of...
Need a cataract operation, a hip replacement or a heart by-pass? Don't fancy the interminable wait at your local hospital? Fear not.
Within two years, according to plans announced last week by...
Councils will have to produce just eight major service plans by 2006 after ministers unveiled details of long-awaited cuts in the number of documents that must be submitted to Whitehall.
The...
The cost of transferring the Government Communications Headquarters' computer systems increased more than 20-fold during its move to a new building in Cheltenham, a National Audit Office report has...
It would seem the Department for Education and Skills has learned its lesson.
The funding allocations for schools descended into confusion and mutual recrimination earlier this year, following the...
A timetable for the introduction of proportional representation in local government has been set out by the Scottish Executive.
In a consultation paper, the Executive says the Local Governance (...
The government's attempt to defuse long-standing criticisms of the Private Finance Initiative by tackling some of its more obvious flaws has been greeted with suspicion by the public sector trade...
NHS financial discipline must be tightened and deficits eradicated, Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt warned this week after a far-reaching review claimed that demand could overwhelm services in the...
Government plans to introduce NHS foundation trusts were hanging in the balance despite this week's narrow victory, after a furious Commons' debate on the issue.
Minister for Children Margaret Hodge is to propose a commissioner for children in a green paper to be published in the autumn.
She told a Local Government Association conference on July 8 that the...
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has launched a massive road-building programme and signalled that the government's long-term aim is road pricing.
Darling said: 'On any view, existing capacity...
The Local Government Association's hunt for a successor to Neil Kinghan has been thrown into disarray after top Treasury mandarin Adam Sharples turned down the job, Public Finance has learned....
The minister charged with tackling delays in housing benefit payments across UK councils has acknowledged that millions of pounds earmarked for improvements this week will not be enough to eradicate...
