The government's push on preventative health will continue to take a back seat in the NHS as targets and incentives focus on more 'vote-winning' acute care, a think-tank warned this week.
Further education colleges are demanding that the government plug a £200m funding shortfall that leaves them with 10% less cash per pupil than school sixth forms.
Paul Boateng has given the green light to development work on a cost index that would accurately reflect the financial pressures faced by local authorities, Public Finance has learned.
The Audit Commission is to slash £18m from public bodies' annual inspection bills after a review concluded that significant areas of the regulator's activities do not represent value for money.
Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred this week stepped in to heal a potential breach with foundation trusts' regulator Monitor over the troubled Bradford Hospitals trust.
Health Secretary John Reid put his commitment to improving public health into action this week by diverting more NHS cash into the most deprived areas of England.
Directors of the multibillion pound NHS information technology project have vowed to win over sceptical doctors whose declining support could turn the scheme into a white elephant.
Radical plans to devolve control of services to neighbourhoods and reshape the landscape of local government have been launched this week, as Cabinet ministers gathered in Manchester for the...
The Wanless franchise keeps on growing. Not content with producing two influential reports on future NHS funding and public health, the former NatWest chief executive this week announced he is...
The Office for National Statistics must be granted the same independence from political interference as the National Audit Office if public confidence in the UK's economic data is to be restored, a...
GPs will refuse to take up practice-led commissioning because the payment by results system is riddled with errors and there is no means of rectifying mistakes, primary care representatives are...
Children from the poorest families are badly served by an education system that fails to cater to their needs, the chief schools inspector said this week.
Despite ministers' rhetoric, the long-awaited reform of Incapacity Benefit outlined this week drew on a familiar political solution to a troubling financial issue: cut basic state payments to...
The government's workforce 'remodelling' plans, part of its efficiency agenda, are an attempt to get more out of workers for less and could herald a return to job insecurity, unions warned this week.
The Inland Revenue has denied that it was unable to cope with thousands of last-minute tax submissions this week, despite acknowledging that its website ground to a halt as the January 31 deadline...
People are being attracted back to Britain's cities by better buildings and public services, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told urban planners this week.
Edinburgh residents are due to start voting next week on whether the Scottish capital will become the second city in Britain to introduce congestion charging.
Government grant for local authority Private Finance Initiative schemes will move to an annuity-based system, in an effort to level the playing field with other forms of capital finance.
The NHS foundation trust regulator did not adhere to its own assessment procedure when it was considering the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust for foundation status, according to a report released...
Fast-track 'learn on the job' teacher training courses are failing to meet desired standards, school inspectors said this week. The Graduate Teacher Programme pays trainees to work in a school on an...
The creation of a single inspection body for the entire criminal justice system would dilute the effectiveness of the prisons' inspectorate, its head has warned.