NHS staff who gain unauthorised access to patients' electronic records could be sacked, face criminal charges or be fined thousands of pounds, the Department of Health said this week.
Tough new measures to combat health care-acquired infections such as MRSA should help staff do their job, not provide a new stick with which to beat them, the NHS Confederation said this week.
David Miliband has defended the government's widespread use of targets in its drive to improve local services but has pledged to scrap those that are hindering rather than helping progress.
The architect of Whitehall's attempt to broaden the skills base of the civil service has warned potential mandarins that the standard for senior posts will be higher than ever in future.
The government's education plans for its third term will threaten working relations between schools and local government, teaching leaders warned this week.
Local government employers have proposed a radical overhaul of council sickness management, including reducing the length of time that staff can receive full pay while absent from work.
Senior civil servants will shortly take legal advice over the Cabinet Office's plan to reform Whitehall pensions, amid growing concerns that proposed changes could breach human rights or sex...
Ealing council has accepted defeat in its battle to overturn its 'weak' rating in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, after the Audit Commission won a Court of Appeal ruling this week.
English local authorities are targeting adult social services and corporate activities in their drive to meet the £6.45bn efficiency target set by Sir Peter Gershon, a study has found.
The body charged with overhauling the quality of school meals met for the first time this week to begin work on developing minimum nutritional standards.
NHS managers have hit back at suggestions that they should be held responsible for lapses in hospital hygiene that lead to higher rates of infections such as MRSA.
NHS organisations must show they are tackling health inequalities or risk receiving a lower performance rating, the Healthcare Commission said this week.
Council leaders met ministers in the new government for the first time this week just one day after a far-reaching programme of legislation was laid out in the Queen's Speech.
Finance Minister Tom McCabe has called on critics of public-private partnership projects in Scotland to leave preconceived ideas behind and start looking for new solutions to project delivery.
Quantifying savings in a meaningful way is going to be one of the toughest challenges of the government's efficiency drive, the man charged with securing more than £1bn in procurement gains has told...
Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett has dismissed claims that the government's proposed welfare reform package could punish the genuinely sick or disabled by forcing them back to work.
