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...
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...
Labour has held on to power in the devolved administrations, strengthening its position in the Welsh Assembly but losing six seats in the Scottish Parliament.
Welsh Labour leader Rhodri Morgan said...
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...
May 1 was to have been the date when elections occurred in each of the three devolved nations of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Except, as is so often the case in the...
NHS consultants this week threatened industrial action over their contracts despite the government's abandonment of plans to make them work over weekends and in the evenings.
Last year, consultants...
Ministers are poised to create the first urban development corporation in ten years in an attempt to help house-building east of London.
Proposals for a UDC in Thurrock, Essex, were published by...
Local government is still plagued with 'severe' recruitment and retention problems that are placing unmanageable burdens on staff, forcing councils to privatise services because they cannot afford to...
Gordon Brown has the reputation of a chancellor who likes to spring surprises when he steps up to the dispatch box to deliver his Budget statement.
But this year the surprise came at the expense...
Hopes have been raised for a resolution of the dispute over the proposed GP contract after a deal guaranteeing minimum incomes was struck this week.
A ballot of the UK's family doctors was...
The Welsh Assembly has said it will 'consider in depth' a National Audit Office recommendation to restructure the way its NHS directorate procures medicines, after auditors said it could save £50m a...
The British Medical Association and the NHS Confederation have been forced to revisit the funding formula for GP practices in the proposed new contract amid fears that family doctors could reject the...
Authorities rated 'excellent' will not have their council tax increases capped, despite rises of up to 45%, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed this week, with ministers apparently...
? ??ew Foster, the outgoing controller of the Audit Commission, talks to Mike Thatcher
Vincent Square will be a much quieter place when Sir Andrew Foster finally moves on later this year. The...
The reward for pharmacists in England and Wales informing on benefit fraudsters has gone up sevenfold. Under an initiative announced this week, they will now be able to claim a £70 reward, up from £...
Vacancy rates for GPs are rising rapidly, putting pressure on family doctors and making it more difficult for patients to get appointments, the British Medical Association said this week.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn has announced a new deal for NHS consultants, which is being hailed in many quarters as a move to give senior doctors sabbaticals of up to three months.
The government's use of public sector targets often referred to as 'targetitis' should reflect 'meaningful outcomes for those using and providing services', the chair of the Local Government...
The reorganisation of health services in Wales will improve co-operation between the NHS and councils, the Welsh Assembly's minister for health and social services claimed this week.
The NHS is facing a 'worrying' shortage of GPs following an increase in the number of vacancies over the last year, a doctors' leader warned this week.
