Birmingham City Council's leader, Sir Albert Bore, will be elected president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) next week, Public Finance has learnt.
Agriculture Secretary Margaret Beckett will try to convince angry farmers this week that government proposals for wholesale change are the only way ahead for an industry that is in freefall.
Birmingham looks likely to face a referendum on a directly elected mayor in the autumn as ministers prepare to flex their political muscle against England's second city and force a vote.
Efforts by local authorities to prepare for the euro have almost ground to a halt, with councils blaming government dithering over the new currency, which came into use in 12 European countries on...
Politicians should hand over the day-to-day running of the NHS to an arm's length corporation, according to a report from the health think-tank, the King's Fund.
Local government employers have slated the trade unions' pay demand and warned that it could make many authorities' in-house services too expensive to run.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone faces a battle to force his proposed budget through the capital's assembly after the Association of London Government dismissed it as 'unacceptable and unrealistic'.
Self-improvement is the mantra adopted by millions at this time of year. But unfortunately it is not a resolution dear to those in Westminster or Whitehall. The flabby way this country is governed...
NHS managers gave a qualified welcome to this week's announcement giving greater independence to the best trusts but remained sceptical over Alan Milburn's masterplan for a brave new world in the...
The Local Government Association has attacked the recent local government finance settlement for ignoring the increased demands being made on councils over personal social services.
Ministerial intervention into Britain's largest council looks inevitable after Birmingham this week strongly rejected the government's calls for a referendum for a directly elected mayor.
Unions and the private sector are still wrangling over the details of the government's Best Value review three weeks after the final deadline for talks, leaving the timetable for reform looking...
The Local Government Information Unit has responded to what it described as a 'patronising', 'simplistic' and 'pseudo-scientific' local government white paper by establishing an independent...
English and Welsh local authorities this week raised serious concerns over the level of accountability of private sector decision-making under local strategic partnerships.
Local authorities are to be ranked for the first time, with high-performers promised the freedom to sell their services and set their own council tax levels, according to this week's long-awaited...
The NHS has two years to regain public confidence or its principles of a tax-funded, equitable service may be lost for good, health minister Lord Hunt said last week.
Increasing patient expectations will provide the greatest impetus for the NHS to improve, Neil McKay, NHS chief operations officer told the HFMA conference.
Local government employers have emphatically rejected the public sector unions' opening salvo in the 2002 pay negotiations as 'completely unrealistic'.
