The NHS, councils and the private sector must co-operate more fully in order to reduce the 'intolerable' level of delays in discharging elderly people from hospital, MPs said this week.
Service's 128 directly managed prisons in England and Wales spent £461m on essential supplies, while Prison Service headquarters spent a further £491m on central projects and services, such as...
Local government's much-heralded Pay Commission could be a damp squib when it reports back next month, after it emerged that union-employer infighting has left the body with little chance of reaching...
Gordon Brown's special adviser has admitted council tax is the key issue facing the 'balance of funding review', as a storm of protest broke out over a ministerial threat to cap rises next year.
The chair of London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, Barbara Cassani, has warned ministers she will not shirk from 'speaking up' if the project gets bogged down by political wrangling and...
New housing associations set up following stock transfers are struggling to meet promises made to former council tenants because they are losing so many homes, says a new survey.
The Audit Commission has launched a broadside against the government's profusion of nationally set targets for local services, warning that they can distort priorities and lead to 'perverse...
Best Value is being extended beyond local government to the rest of the public sector in Scotland, a Scottish Executive guidance document has disclosed.
Electricity distributors' contingency plans are not yet robust enough to deal effectively with all aspects of a major power failure should severe weather hit the UK again this winter, the Department...
Widespread private provision of acute care in England came a step nearer at the end of last week and brought with it the inevitable debate on privatisation and dire warnings for the future of the NHS.
The Public and Commercial Services union will go to an employment tribunal if a government ministry does not ditch plans to pay external recruits higher salaries.
The Scottish Executive is to fund an increase in the number of teachers and police officers and take the first steps towards introducing free eye and dental checks as a result of a £525m spending...
Teaching unions have attacked the government for trying to limit the number of teachers receiving salary rises through performance-related pay, claiming that this will have a 'devastating' effect on...
A Conservative government would dismantle the 'command state' constructed by the Labour party and radically decentralise public services, according to a policy document setting out the party's reform...
Senior trade unionists have warned that a government forum set up to discuss public services reform will quickly fail unless Labour entertains the idea of direct policy changes.
Met Office officials were in talks with the Department of Health this week to try to save a project that uses weather data to help the NHS cope with seasonal pressures.
The saga of Westminster's missing residents may now be resolved as preliminary results from an investigation have shown the 2001 census may have missed 25,000 households.
Health, education and local authorities gave the 'biggest shake-up in children's services in 30 years' a muted welcome this week as they questioned the government's commitment to providing adequate...
