The government aims to accelerate its foundation trust initiative by encouraging the first wave of the new organisations to help their neighbours achieve the status, too.
The Conservatives have started a row after pledging to scrap university tuition fees if they are returned to power, which they believe will save £700m.
The National Union of Students and the...
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is failing to meet its statutory duties to vulnerable children, and its services for adults are in need of 'radical overhaul', inspectors have found.
A damning...
The government's vision of NHS care provided by a mix of public and private sector bodies moved a step closer this week.
Private firms, including some from overseas, have been invited to bid to run...
Capita employees are to be given powers to complete criminal record checks and access police files in a move to prevent any further bottlenecks at the Criminal Records Bureau.
Home Secretary David...
Town hall leaders will use their top-level meeting with government ministers next week to demand assurances that councils will not be sidelined by the much-vaunted policy of 'new localism'.
Fears...
Plans to build thousands of affordable homes remain at risk in spite of a government pledge to smooth over the abolition of a major grant scheme.
A last-minute decision by the Office of the Deputy...
Watchdogs at the Office of Fair Trading have warned that their investigation into alleged anti-competition activities at the Environment Agency will be a complex affair.
The OFT launched its...
London boroughs have accused the government of 'spin' this week after five local education authorities were named and shamed as having the capital's worst performing schools, despite being recognised...
The government has lined up a number of concessions on its foundation trust initiative in an attempt to ensure its safe passage.
Following last week's muted rebellion, the Health and Social Care (...
Westminster City Council this week found itself embroiled in a new row over the relocation of its staff and services under outsourcing contracts, when it emerged that the London borough's housing...
Councils in Scotland look set to be elected by proportional representation after a deal was agreed between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats for a new ruling coalition in Scotland.
MSPs...
Chief executives and social services directors must clarify their roles and lines of accountability to ensure there is no repeat of the Anna Climbié case, a report has warned.
Shared...
Anyone who thought that urban development corporations were as dead as the Thatcher government that created them should think again.
More than five years after the last generation of UDCs closed,...
Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week.
New proposals on housing homeless people...
Smaller housing associations are being squeezed out of new development programmes as the Housing Corporation diverts money towards larger landlords.
During the coming year, 28,500 new homes will be...
Rabbi Julia Neuberger has announced she is to leave the King's Fund think-tank after six years as chief executive.
Neuberger, one of the most prominent figures in health service thinking, will...
The government's 'consumerist' approach to public services, promoting competition between providers, could alienate the very people they are supposed to serve, a Left-wing think-tank claims....
Traditional employer-staff differences over local government pay re-emerged this week after the trade union and council representatives completed their submissions to the body set up to investigate...
Few finance managers feel able to express strongly positive views on the success of e-government plans
Last week's local election results will have given comfort to e-government enthusiasts...
The Commons' education select committee has launched an inquiry into the row over schools funding, calling on standards minister David Miliband to explain an alleged £530m shortfall.
Chair Barry...
The IT system for the Criminal Records Bureau failed to meet the government's original specification, a Home Office minister has admitted.
Junior minister Hilary Benn conceded that the CRB's system...
Though voter apathy remains an unsolved conundrum, every party was able to claim a small victory
Audible sighs of relief could be heard around the Westminster village in the aftermath of the...
Electricity companies were this week attacked for failing to pass on to consumers the 'substantial' cost savings brought about by government-led reforms in the sector.
The National Audit Office,...
