Labour is due to give local authorities an extra £35m in this year's finance settlement but with a warning from ministers that it should be used to curb council tax increases.
The Audit Commission should have its own House of Commons select committee in order to give the public sector watchdog's reports more weight, it was proposed this week.
Gordon Brown has huge room for manoeuvre between tax cuts, spending increases and debt repayment, according to the annual unofficial guide to the chancellor's budget options published this week by...
A national intelligence unit set up by the government to attack organised benefit fraud is to combine the knowledge of the Inland Revenue, police and immigration authorities.
Labour's political reform of local government faces its strongest grassroots opposition yet with elected members of a London council threatening unlawful action.
Whether the outbreak of flu sweeping Britain is an epidemic is a moot point. Statistically, it isn't. The official figures for reported cases are little more than for January last year.
English National Parks this week warned that the disappointing financial settlement for 2000/01 could delay essential conservation projects and hamper its ability to respond to government priorities...
The Department of Health has signalled a cautious start to its latest modernisation initiative, confirming that only 15 primary care trusts will be formed this year. Thirteen PCTs will be launched on...
A local authority insisted this week that it had taken steps to reduce stress among employees after paying a record £203,000 to a former warden at a site for gypsies.
Police forces in England and Wales could lose 300 officers as a result of a Treasury decision not to allow the National Crime Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service to claim back their...
The chairman of an independent inquiry looking at the pattern of the school year has criticised the present system as 'medieval' and warned that 'the status quo is not an option'.
Many so-called regeneration projects are, in effect, schemes to help manage the irreversible decline of neighbourhoods caused by low demand for social housing, according a study commissioned by the...
The Treasury wants members of its public services directorate to shadow head teachers, NHS executives and senior local government officials to establish a better grasp of government spending...
Acute shortages of social housing and the unwillingness of some councils to provide accommodation for ex-prisoners are adding to the likelihood of people reoffending after they leave prison, says a...
Scottish Homes is being turned into an agency of the Scottish Executive in a move to bring together the rights of tenants living in council and housing association properties.
Schools minister Estelle Morris has conceded that the government is creating and promoting a market for the private sector to take over the running of failing schools.
Trading standards departments need to work more closely with each other and with the Office of Fair Trading, according to separate reports from the Audit Commission and the National Audit Office.
