Gordon Brown opened a new front in the government's ongoing battles with trade unions this week when he used his Budget statement to indicate a move towards regional pay settlements.
Local government minister Nick Raynsford this week provided further details of his long-awaited overhaul of councillors' allowances, giving authorities the chance to set their own remuneration deals...
Government reform of unemployment services, announced in this week's Budget, could lead to 'widespread short-termism' across the sector, the leading civil servants' union has claimed.
Officials at...
Government ministers have agreed to alter the Bill paving the way for regional assemblies to ensure referendum ballots have a separate question on the issue of local government reorganisation....
Hopes have been raised for a resolution of the dispute over the proposed GP contract after a deal guaranteeing minimum incomes was struck this week.
A ballot of the UK's family doctors was...
Transport for London's new head of street management, Peter Hendy, opened a can of worms last week when he mused on whether local authorities would bother to introduce congestion charging if the...
Britain's largest teaching union has signalled its intention to take industrial action if the government pushes ahead with plans to allow unqualified staff to take classes.
The National Union of...
Weaknesses in the Department for Work and Pensions' computer system hamper efforts to increase the take-up of benefits among elderly people, the Public Accounts Committee has said.
Between £930m...
Council tenants wishing to buy their homes under the right to buy scheme will need to have lived in the house for five years instead of two in future, the government announced this week.
The...
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment system is to undergo major reform before the next round of full local government inspections in three years' time.
The Liberal Democrats pledged to abolish council tax and replace it with a locally set income tax, as they launched their campaign on March 31 for the May council elections.
Local government...
The Prison Service is missing out on potential savings because its procurement procedures are too fragmented, according to the National Audit Office.
The public spending watchdog found that while...
Neglect by the former Railtrack has landed its public interest successor with a soaring infrastructure bill.
Network Rail's business plan, published on March 31, showed that maintenance, operating...
Local government leaders hit out at the government this week after Nick Raynsford demanded an explanation from authorities for the 'excessive' council tax increases that some have levied.
Local education authorities must act to tackle a 'very worrying' level of violence and abuse against teachers.
That was the message from Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association...
Plans to bring US-style regeneration to Britain's city centres could be undermined by a row over funding.
From April 2004, Business Improvement Districts (Bids), credited with turning around the...
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has launched a £435m programme to provide children's centres in the most deprived parts of England.
The centres will offer childcare, nursery education, parenting...
Widespread concern over the revised local authority grant formula led the government to stump up an additional £28m for schools this week, but ministers denied the cash boost had been influenced by...
Town hall leaders are to mount a campaign against government plans for foundation hospitals, claiming they could dilute their own democratic mandate.
As Public Finance went to press, the...
Manchester has become the first local authority to sign a contract to improve council housing directly through the Private Finance initiative.
The contract was signed on March 25 three and a half...
Scottish Education Minister Cathy Jamieson has used a local government conference to announce an extra £80m to guarantee full implementation of the McCrone agreement on teachers' workloads....
An ambulance service that expanded a temporary staffing pilot into a £60m agency in a rush to meet Whitehall deadlines was left with a £10m deficit, the district auditor reported this week.
A...
The Fire Brigades Union has two weeks to persuade members to accept a 16% pay deal after a special conference voted overwhelmingly against it in a bruising episode for its ruling executive council...
The Liberal Democrats hope to benefit from Labour's unpopularity over the Iraq crisis and the continuing doldrums of the Tories to make serious gains in May's local elections.
The party's spring...
Taxpayers will be millions of pounds worse off during the next 30 years because ex-council homes are being renovated by new landlords rather than by local authorities, the National Audit Office said...
