The shared inspection regime for children's services will not be examining everything from school dinners to swings in exhaustive detail, the inspector leading the programme said this week.
Local government pension deficits have tripled to around £30bn over the past three years, but council scheme managers have been urged not to panic as they strive to meet the escalating cost of...
Town hall leaders are warning that the £1bn cash injection promised by Gordon Brown does nothing to tackle the underlying pressures on council tax bills, which could still soar in future years.
NHS trusts need to spend more of their budget on cleaning services, ministers said this week after it emerged that fewer than half of hospitals in England have good standards of cleanliness.
Incapacity benefit needs to be replaced with a new system of support that encourages people to return to the workforce, according to a centre-Left think-tank.
All children's services, from playgroups to prisons, are to be subject to a radical joint inspection regime under proposals announced by Ofsted this week.
The Gershon efficiency review will contribute to growth of almost 50% in the UK public sector outsourcing market over the next three years, it was predicted this week.
The new NHS payment-by-results hospital funding system should be used in mental health care but its introduction must be gradual, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health said this week.
The CBI has attacked the 'confusing and vague' plans drawn up by Whitehall departments to meet the £21.5bn Gershon efficiency drive and warned of 'serious concerns' that it may fail.
Comprehensive Performance Assessments will scrutinise councils' financial management much more rigorously from 2005 but the number of inspections will be slashed by two-thirds.
Chancellor Gordon Brown was accused this week of using accounting tricks to inflate his civil service relocation figures by including posts moved before Sir Michael Lyons' proposals for Whitehall...
Ministers must develop an effective strategy to deal with international prisoners after a new study showed record numbers are detained in UK jails, an influential pressure group has warned.
NHS foundation trusts are lobbying ministers to be allowed to bid for the next wave of private sector health care contracts, the Healthcare Financial Management Association conference heard last week.
Education watchdog Ofsted faces a legal challenge after inspectors admitted copying chunks of a report on a Birmingham school from an existing study on a Bradford comprehensive.
The replacement for NHS star ratings in England will give patients a 'richer picture' of trusts' strengths and weaknesses and include a wider assessment of their financial position, the Healthcare...
A single co-ordinating body must be set up to reduce drastically the bureaucratic burden councils are forced to bear because of the regulation and inspection regime, town hall leaders are demanding.
College leaders have called on Ofsted to review its 'biased' inspection criteria, after the inspectorate branded the number of failing colleges a 'national disgrace'.
