Auditors could be forced into making political decisions for which they are ill-equipped under the new Best Value regime, a House of Commons committee was told this week.
The National Assembly for Wales has announced an extra £2m for children's services following a damning report that traced two decades of child abuse in local authority homes.
Rhodri Morgan, the new First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales, is already facing pressure from nationalists to secure European funding and stem central government interference.
National Health Service bed numbers came under renewed scrutiny this week. A spot check revealed that patients were waiting on trolleys much longer than the Department of Health's four-hour limit.
By Maria McHale Education leaders have warned the government that its standards agenda will suffer if councils are forced to fund in full the 3.3% teachers' pay rise announced this week. Education...
Inaccurate income support and jobseekers allowance payments by the Benefits Agency totalled almost £1bn in 1998/99, figures published by the National Audit Office have revealed.
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 benefits system is still losing billions of pounds of public money due to fraud and inefficiency in spite of attempts to improve the service, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has found.
Police funding must be doubled for the next three years to avoid cuts in staffing, police authorities in England and Wales will tell the Home Office next month.
The Scottish Executive is facing a showdown with Westminster next week over the treatment of asylum seekers. Home Secretary Jack Straw is anxious to persuade Scotland to accept an extra 1,000 asylum...
The first of a rolling series of Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate reports into Welsh social services have produced a winner and a loser.
League tables could be introduced across the criminal justice system after a critical National Audit Office study found up to £84m could be saved by eliminating waste and spreading good practice.
The government will put local government political reorganisation on the fast track next week when it publishes the bill that will pave the way for directly elected mayors.
Winning money for new recruits from the crime-fighting fund could be conditional on police authorities signing up to the new national communications project.
Short-termism and vague targets set by councils are hampering innovative work on regeneration and economic development, the Audit Commission warned this week.
A campaign by the Local Government Association to overhaul the voting system for local elections has resulted in the creation of a commission to consider the issue.
Local Education Authorities found themselves in the government's sights again this week when Prime Minister Tony Blair stepped up the attack on spending on schools.
