News

  • Public Finance
    12 Feb 04
    Only one in five councils in England and Wales has implemented the historic single status agreement on pay and conditions six years after it was signed, a survey from the GMB union has found.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    The Department for Education and Skills has admitted that it plans to cut up to 800 jobs as part of an efficiency review that is likely to have repercussions across other Whitehall departments.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Britain's commissioner for correctional services has strongly denied MPs' accusations that the treatment of youth offenders is a costly, ineffective failure.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    John Prescott's department is this week trying to persuade the home secretary to flex his political muscle and join the battle to avoid another year of politically damaging council tax hikes, Public...
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Accident and emergency departments and ambulance and mental health trusts could receive up to £500,000 a year if they meet government targets for providing faster emergency care, Health Secretary...
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Qualifications Authority were in urgent talks this week to try to resolve a dispute over fees that could bring chaos to the examination...
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Officials at the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs have indicated that a review of its anti-fuel poverty initiative is likely to reform the way cash is distributed to those most in...
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    The Department of Health has allocated an extra £30m to boost information technology in general practice just three months after earmarking £20m for the same purpose.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Public service leaders are demanding a 'substantive' role in the Treasury's wide-ranging efficiency review amid mounting concerns that ministers will impose 'unrealistic' and 'unworkable' reforms on...
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    A council hoping to set up an arm's-length management organisation has received a setback from housing inspectors.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Teaching unions this week laid the blame for the latest increase in the number of failing schools squarely with funding shortages and the school inspectorate's 'shifting goalposts'.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh has castigated the Strategic Rail Authority for a 'catalogue of blunders' in its attempts to introduce new modern trains to the network.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Millions of pounds are being poured into rundown estates in northern England as ministers deny claims that too much housing investment is concentrated in the South.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    Scottish local authority leaders this week defended a proposal that councillors should receive a basic annual salary of £25,000 about half the amount paid to members of the Scottish Parliament.
  • Public Finance
    5 Feb 04
    The government's push to implement the controversial foundation hospitals plan was dealt an unexpected blow this week with the news that many of the leading trusts will not be given the status until...
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Student debt in England and Wales could top £8.5bn a year following the government's narrow Commons victory on top-up fees, preventing graduates from seeking public sector jobs, say critics.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    The UK is not a 'soft touch' for asylum seekers, but there are systematic 'weaknesses' in government policy that need rectifying to restore public confidence in the system, MPs have reported.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Storm clouds were gathering over local government pay this week, with unions set to lodge a 4% pay claim, despite warnings that employers are determined to keep to the Treasury's inflation-only limit...
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    The Audit Commission in Wales is taking a legal dispute with Cardiff County Council to the High Court after the authority rejected claims that more than £2.5m in payments to leading officers and...
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    The government has ruled out any immediate changes to the Freedom of Information Act, but has committed itself to introducing a draft Civil Service Bill later this year.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Normal political debate has pretty much been forgotten amid the tumult of the Hutton Inquiry report and the vote over university top-up tuition fees, but in recent days senior Labour figures have...
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Big government spending departments are being urged to remove unnecessary bureaucracy and confusion between agencies to ensure that cash for the public services reaches the front line.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Devolution's greatest test will be when public spending comes under increased pressure, an influential think-tank warned this week.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Government efforts to promote the Private Finance Initiative in housing have received a boost after 19 local authorities bid to join the third round of the programme.
  • Public Finance
    29 Jan 04
    Anna Klonowski, the director of finance responsible for stabilising the troubled London Borough of Hackney's budget problems, has been head-hunted to do a similar job at North East Lincolnshire...

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