Councils in Scotland are still struggling to cut rent arrears and are owed £28.5m 7.4% of the income they were due last year, the Accounts Commission said this week.
Plans to introduce proportional representation for Scottish local government could add £6m to the administration of elections and other costs, senior officials have estimated.
Local government employers want an end to the traditional annual pay talks in favour of multi-year deals, with both English and Scottish councils looking for two-and three-year packages.
A wide-ranging overhaul of the civil service in Scotland, including the recruitment of leading figures from business, is planned by First Minister Jack McConnell.
Council tax bills in Scotland are set to rise by an average of about 4.5%, after the local government funding settlement announced this week by Finance and Public Services Minister Andy Kerr.
The amount Scotland receives from the Treasury to make up for a shortfall in tax income has increased to £8bn, according to the Scottish Executive's latest assessment of the country's finances.
A former chief executive of the North of Scotland Water Authority, Katharine Bryan, is to be the new chief executive of the Northern Ireland Water Service.
The government has shown it is more interested in finance than patients by appointing a former banker as the independent regulator of foundation trusts, according to a leading critic of the...
The economic development agency Scottish Enterprise (SE) has been criticised by auditor general Bob Black for the way it used outside consultants and contractors.
Audit Scotland is to appoint a managing director of audit services, a new post that has been created as part of a major reorganisation, it was disclosed this week.
Devolution is here to stay and is likely to continue to evolve throughout the UK, according to one of the principal architects of the Scottish Executive.
The Welsh Assembly has been slammed for having a 'local authority mentality' and not promoting 'experimental policy-making' in a critique by a Cardiff academic.
The Scottish Executive is planning to improve the scrutiny of its budget by providing a performance report to allow MSPs to assess whether targets are being met.
The Scottish Executive is to press ahead with controversial plans to reform the voting system for council elections, bringing the threat of a Labour rebellion and strong opposition from local...
Councils in Scotland will each undergo a new in-depth audit to determine whether they are meeting their Best Value duties, Audit Scotland has announced.
Welsh consultants' overwhelming 'yes' vote in the ballot on their new contract will improve doctors' working lives and help recruitment of senior doctors, the British Medical Association said this...
The Scottish Executive this week defended the cost of running the devolved administration after new figures disclosed that civil service numbers have risen by 17% since the Holyrood Parliament was...
Water customers in Scotland were warned this week that they face another increase in their bills unless Scottish Water makes faster progress to boost efficiency.
MPs have slammed the national IT programme for magistrates' courts as one of the worst examples of a Private Finance Initiative project they have ever seen, describing the procurement as 'disastrous...