Cabinet Office officials backed away from inflating savings targets for Whitehall's shared services programme because it was difficult to reflect improvements in services delivered, Public Finance...
Local Government Secretary Ruth Kelly this week delayed the sector's white paper until the autumn, allowing for a more radical assessment of plans to devolve powers to cities and town halls.
Town hall leaders have given cautious backing to government plans announced this week to dock the housing benefit of antisocial residents who refuse to undertake 'rehabilitation'.
The Liberal Democrats this week set out a radical new package of tax measures in a striking change of direction and a bid to win the backing of the low paid and middle Britain.
Serious consideration should be given to alternatives to custody for certain prisoners in order to alleviate prison overcrowding, senior MPs said this week.
The quango running Northern Ireland's national museums and galleries has been criticised by the Northern Ireland Audit Office for the poor quality of its stored items.
The Treasury this week stood firm over its decision to administer tax credits from the Revenue and Customs department, despite claims that the system is 'in crisis' and should be moved to the...
Unions representing university academics have rejected a proposed 13.1% pay rise over three years, and warned that their exam-marking boycott might intensify into full-scale strike action.
Scotland's public sector watchdog has defended itself against claims by members of the Scottish Parliament that it might not be achieving best value following rising costs in its budget.
Core Whitehall departments struggled to match the performance of other central government bodies in getting to grips with the Freedom of Information Act, according to recent figures.
The Department for Education and Skills has pledged to review the new Dedicated Schools Grant following criticism from MPs and local authorities that it prevents funds being targeted at deprived...
Detected fraud and overpayments among 1,300 public bodies has soared by 33% to £111m since the last sweep of their records two years ago, the Audit Commission revealed this week.
The new leader of London's Conservative councillors is confident he will take control of the capital's local government body following the Tories' sweeping gains in last month's local elections.
Local government should seize the opportunity offered by the Lyons Inquiry and push for a model of local transport funding akin to that developed by Transport for London, the Local Government...
Ken Livingstone has pledged to put the fight against global warming at the heart of his London plan, as he published the first major review of the 2004 strategy.
Officials in charge of an embattled multibillion pound health service IT project will ignore deadlines for its completion and concentrate on ensuring the new systems work correctly.
The Office for National Statistics faces a series of strikes by staff opposed to its relocation and job cut plans, after two civil service trade unions this week balloted members over industrial...
The government has pressed ahead with an extension to its flagship Patient Choice initiative, despite new evidence from the Department of Health that shows well-educated patients benefit most from...
Police figures are sceptical that Home Secretary John Reid's apparent willingness to slow down the controversial police merger programme will result in any significant change of plan.
Government and local authority interaction with communities after the London bombings last July was 'well-intentioned' but 'could have been better co-ordinated', the Home Office has been warned.
Scottish business leaders have given cautious backing to a proposal to hand a share of income tax, corporation tax and VAT directly to the Scottish Executive rather than to the Treasury in London.
Senior civil servants will shortly be asked to sign a confidentiality declaration and assign copyright to the Crown for information relating to their work, under plans to prevent the publication of...
The minister co-ordinating the government's public services reforms this week urged Whitehall departments to sign up to a project that could prevent workforce opposition to future changes.
