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8 Nov 01
Strike action by the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) is set to escalate after staff at a key benefit office voted to join a walkout over security issues.
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8 Nov 01
Enlargement of the European Union is now vital to the security of member states following the events of September 11, members of the Committee of the Regions were told this week.
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8 Nov 01
The Local Government Association has declared its 'emphatic' opposition to any attempt by the government to ring-fence local authorities' education budgets.
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8 Nov 01
One of the charity sector's most influential figures has called for the creation of a new 'public benefit sector' capable of delivering and raising investment for major public services.
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8 Nov 01
Local councils could be forced to delve deep into their reserves to shore up their employees' pension funds despite the government's insistence that an actuarial review of the market will uncover few...
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8 Nov 01
Albert Bore, one of local government's few campaigners for directly elected mayors, has narrowly survived a challenge to his leadership of Birmingham City Council.
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8 Nov 01
The government's micro-management of the NHS is frustrating innovation and preventing managers improving the service to patients, the NHS Confederation claimed this week.
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8 Nov 01
Whitehall is out of step with public opinion over care for the elderly, according to a new survey.
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8 Nov 01
The chair of the new regulatory body for councillors pledged to restore the public's faith in local politics as the organisation was officially launched on November 6.
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8 Nov 01
Pressure is mounting on ministers to introduce rent capping to protect tenants from large increases as social landlords get to grips with rent restructuring.
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8 Nov 01
It is now just over a year since a new price control mechanism was introduced to curb the spiralling cost of generic drugs.
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1 Nov 01
Councils in Northern Ireland are threatening to take legal action against the soon-to-be-appointed first minister and deputy first minister if they are not consulted over nominations to Europe's...
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1 Nov 01
It took a few words of warning and a flurry of letters to put the final political seal on the future of directly elected mayors last month.
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1 Nov 01
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has insisted it is not being marginalised despite a government decision to launch a large-scale clinical trial of multiple sclerosis drugs that Nice had...
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1 Nov 01
The political future of Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish was under threat this week as a police investigation began into what he called an 'error' over income received from a tenant for space...
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1 Nov 01
Pressure is mounting on the Treasury to come clean on how public spending is officially defined in the wake of the Railtrack collapse and allegations that it disguised projected spending increases as...
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1 Nov 01
An influential union leader has challenged the government to prove that its plans to increase the private sector's role in providing public services will not lead to falling standards.
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1 Nov 01
Children placed in bed and breakfast accommodation because their family is homeless are missing out on important health checks, the government told local authorities this week.
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1 Nov 01
Local authorities need to address the failings rampant in the administration of housing benefit as poor management is causing hardship for claimants, according to the Audit Commission.
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1 Nov 01
More female consultants are receiving bonus payments from the NHS than ever before but consultants from ethnic minorities are doing less well, it emerged this week.
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1 Nov 01
The Local Government Association has demanded assurances that the government's shake-up of the asylum system will include funding for services provided by councils.
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1 Nov 01
Benefits payments over the Christmas period could be thrown into chaos as the largest civil service union announced it would hold a strike ballot among its 50,000 members working in Benefits Agency...
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1 Nov 01
The government's review of Best Value could escalate the costs of delivering council services, raising the spectre of future cuts in vulnerable areas, it has emerged.
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1 Nov 01
The National Audit Office has urged Whitehall to apply stringent checks to ensure that policy-making and implementation are cost-effective.
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25 Oct 01
Local authority trade unions have rejected outright employers' demands to give up their right to unilateral arbitration to resolve pay talks, raising the spectre of another bitter dispute this year.