It has had more false starts than the 1993 Grand National, but the end now finally looks in sight for the year-long firefighters' dispute.
In what has turned into a bitter test of union, central...
Ministers and doctors' leaders reached an impasse over the future of the NHS consultants' contract this week.
Amid a growing sense of crisis, the British Medical Association gave the government a...
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has become the first to claim a reward from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for meeting its interim Local Public Service Agreement targets.
The council...
Local authorities hoping to transfer individual housing estates to new landlords dominate the list of proposed stock transfers for 2003.
The list, published this week by the Office of the Deputy...
Capita employees are to be given powers to complete criminal record checks and access police files in a move to prevent any further bottlenecks at the Criminal Records Bureau.
Home Secretary David...
Town hall leaders will use their top-level meeting with government ministers next week to demand assurances that councils will not be sidelined by the much-vaunted policy of 'new localism'.
Fears...
Plans to build thousands of affordable homes remain at risk in spite of a government pledge to smooth over the abolition of a major grant scheme.
A last-minute decision by the Office of the Deputy...
London boroughs have accused the government of 'spin' this week after five local education authorities were named and shamed as having the capital's worst performing schools, despite being recognised...
Councils in Scotland look set to be elected by proportional representation after a deal was agreed between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats for a new ruling coalition in Scotland.
MSPs...
Chief executives and social services directors must clarify their roles and lines of accountability to ensure there is no repeat of the Anna Climbié case, a report has warned.
Shared...
Anyone who thought that urban development corporations were as dead as the Thatcher government that created them should think again.
More than five years after the last generation of UDCs closed,...
The government aims to accelerate its foundation trust initiative by encouraging the first wave of the new organisations to help their neighbours achieve the status, too.
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is failing to meet its statutory duties to vulnerable children, and its services for adults are in need of 'radical overhaul', inspectors have found.
A damning...
Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week.
New proposals on housing homeless people...
The Commons' education select committee has launched an inquiry into the row over schools funding, calling on standards minister David Miliband to explain an alleged £530m shortfall.
Chair Barry...
Though voter apathy remains an unsolved conundrum, every party was able to claim a small victory
Audible sighs of relief could be heard around the Westminster village in the aftermath of the...
Local government leaders are warning of 'major concerns' over the planned overhaul of Comprehensive Performance Assessments put out to consultation by the Audit Commission last month.
Authorities...
Housing associations are finding it difficult to collect escalating rent arrears from tenants and 'a major rethink is needed', the Audit Commission warned this week.
A report by the local...
Smaller housing associations are being squeezed out of new development programmes as the Housing Corporation diverts money towards larger landlords.
During the coming year, 28,500 new homes will be...
Traditional employer-staff differences over local government pay re-emerged this week after the trade union and council representatives completed their submissions to the body set up to investigate...
Few finance managers feel able to express strongly positive views on the success of e-government plans
Last week's local election results will have given comfort to e-government enthusiasts...
Rail maintenance and building contractor Jarvis will have only support functions in its controversial new contract to advise education authorities on good practice.
Disclosure this week of the £21....
Health minister John Hutton has urged nurses to become hospital governors as part of the government's foundation trust reforms.
Speaking at the Royal College of Nursing's annual conference in...
The Criminal Records Bureau is to place more of the administrative burden for criminal checks on employers while charging them for new services under plans to generate much-needed revenue for the...
Local authority employers are demanding sweeping changes to the 'nine-to-five' working culture and a radical overhaul of the national pay bargaining system to modernise town hall working practices...
