The government's £1.1bn funding boost for local government, announced alongside the Pre-Budget Report, might have mollified council chiefs, but the goal of making high council tax rises 'a thing of...
Councils' scrutiny committees are likely to be transformed into 'local area select committees' under proposals to place Local Strategic Partnerships at the centre of service delivery, Phil Woolas has...
A senior Whitehall academic this week cast doubt on Gordon Brown's claim that the government is on target to achieve its ambitious £40bn efficiency savings package by 2008.
All local authorities must share the spoils of the proposed Planning Gain Supplement or the gap between areas of economic success and deprivation will widen, Gordon Brown is being warned.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published draft regulations abolishing the so-called '85-year rule', which allowed some local government workers to retire before the age of 65.
Announcing the local government finance settlement at the same time as the Pre-Budget Report might have pushed it into the news background. But the government cannot hide from the issues forever
The government is set for defeat on its cornerstone education reform Bill unless it makes concessions to appease rebellious Labour MPs, senior education professionals have told Public Finance .
The new beefed-up version of the Audit Commission should be able to stop other inspectorates from poring over council services if it feels it is unnecessary, ministers are proposing.
The details of the revenue support grant settlement, expected next week, remain cloaked in mystery although local government is hopeful that ministers will have found some extra cash to alleviate...
The Home Office's finance director has urged caution in Whitehall's drive to professionalise its skills base warning senior staff not to shift roles too quickly simply to meet new training...
CPAs for Whitehall? Don't make me laugh, says Colin Talbot. Sir Gus O'Donnell's Departmental Capability Reviews for central government are far removed from the rigorous external performance...
The Home Office's finance chief is bringing a professional accounting approach to Whitehall at a time when it is under most pressure. She talks to Mark Conrad
The British civil service is rightly admired throughout the world, and yet everyone wants to 'reform' it. Tony Travers considers the skills that are needed for the thoroughly modern mandarin
Big changes are afoot in Whitehall, starting with the role of the traditional civil servant. But will this rush to 'professionalise' have the desired effect? Public Finance and Deloitte invited a...
Four candidates are vying to be the new leader of Liverpool City Council following the resignation of Mike Storey, who has been found guilty of breaking the councillors' code of conduct.
It is just as well Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain did not expect a warm welcome for his November 22 announcement of a restructuring of the province's public sector based on the three-year...
Public bodies providing local services should be able to opt out of implementing new policies if central government has not provided adequate funding, according to a think-tank.
Two primary care trusts are hoping to be reimbursed by the Department of Health after paying a private company more than £200,000 for operations and consultations that did not take place.
The government's Departmental Capability Reviews were this week dismissed by one of Whitehall's most respected commentators as lacking credibility because of the civil service's insistence on self-...
A single police force covering the whole of Wales could lead to more effective crime-fighting, the chief constable of South Wales told delegates at the CIPFA in Wales annual conference in Cardiff.
Government plans to replace Northern Ireland's 26 district councils with seven 'super-councils' have been attacked by local parties for reinforcing sectarian divisions.
