Negotiations between the Fire Brigades Union and employers were set to go to the wire next week as the two sides attempted to thrash out a deal to avert the first eight-day strike planned for...
Sir Andrew Foster, the controller of the Audit Commission, found himself under fire last week from council chief executives and senior managers who were angered by the watchdog's implementation of...
Six cities have been named by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell as contenders to be European Capital of Culture 2008, the year in which Britain is guaranteed the title.
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff,...
London Mayor Ken Livingstone is likely to oppose government plans to combine the 2004 local elections with the European elections because he fears voters could be confused by the number of ballot...
The Ministry of Defence's £3bn contract for a new generation of attack helicopters faces delay, according to a National Audit Office report published this week.
The MoD is buying 67 Apache...
The Office for National Statistics this week mounted a staunch defence of the way it compiled the 2001 census after fears about the data grew.
Members of the London Assembly are urging its budget...
While ballot frenzy hit London Labour Party ranks this week with the closing round to choose its mayoral candidate for the 2004 elections, the Liberal Democrats admitted that they had no interested...
The effect of Home Secretary David Blunkett's latest attempt to combat Britain's rapidly growing prison population is 'a drop in the ocean' and should be accompanied by wholesale reform of the...
John Prescott was this week unveiling long-awaited planning reforms just as his housing minister firmly indicated that Labour had failed to meet its affordable housing objectives.
Naïve housing associations are rushing into risky deals over key worker accommodation, a leading lender said this week.
Malcolm Kitchener, a general manager at Nationwide Building Society,...
Schools could soon be hosting health and social services, citizens' advice bureaux and even post offices under a pilot scheme to extend their use in the community.
Schools minister Cathy Ashton...
The Treasury's reforms of the 'green book' herald a new era of rigorous investment appraisal throughout the public sector, according to two influential think-tanks.
Gordon Brown's root-and-branch...
The Audit Commission will not take into account local authorities' financial resources or levels of deprivation when grading them under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, it has confirmed....
The independent review into the fire service will not be rushed into reporting early, its chair told Public Finance this week as ministers and the TUC scrambled for a solution to halt the impending...
The government's plans for individual learning accounts were rushed through with no proper quality assurance or security systems in place, according to the National Audit Office.
The public...
The government 'remains committed' to having elected US-style mayors running town halls, even though Labour was beaten in three of last week's four contests.
The party lost control of traditional...
The wrong kind of sand and 'unexpectedly hot' conditions in a desert were among excuses that embarrassed military officials this week provided for a bungled exercise to test British troops'...
Senior MPs were this week critical of news that the partner of a senior Labour minister is the front-runner to chair the Audit Commission.
Members of the Commons' public administration select...
The National Audit Office has praised the Home Office's victim support scheme for helping 1.4 million people every year.
But, in a report published on October 23, it regrets that the rate at which...
'I hope he's got a way out of this,' a sceptical union leader muses of his colleague Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. Gilchrist's 50,000 members are poised for the first...
CPA is too inflexible, IDA admits
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment is too inflexible, according to the acting executive director of the Improvement and Development Agency.
John O'Brien...
NHS managers have given a surprisingly strong vote of confidence in the Private Finance Initiative's ability to deliver quality, modern facilities for the health service, according to a survey from...
Senior figures at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister this week said they were 'open to any suggestions' that would improve the supply of affordable housing.
Appearing before the Commons' urban...
Teaching unions are deeply divided over government plans to cut teachers' workloads by employing 50,000 new classroom assistants.
Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris announced proposals...
