Rail regulator Tom Winsor has admitted that he will find it more difficult to hold the public interest company Network Rail to account than he did its private sector predecessor Railtrack.
Speaking...
The government's patient choice scheme risks increasing inequality in the NHS, the King's Fund warned this week.
Its report, What is the real cost of more patient choice? , said extending patients...
Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith's green paper this week came under renewed fire after a survey revealed that 95% of employers feel it should have included reforms of the state pension system.
A...
Lack of financial management in schools was a 'critical factor' in this year's funding crisis, the Local Government Association claimed this week.
In comments likely to further inflame the debate...
The Scottish Executive is to set up a watchdog to oversee the operation of charities in the wake of controversy over the funding of a cancer research body.
Communities minister Margaret Curran...
Community health councils have welcomed the decision to delay their abolition by three months.
CHCs were due to be wound up on September 1 and be replaced with a system that includes patients'...
There is a 'pressing case' to expand local government's ground-breaking deal on the two-tier workforce to the rest of the public sector, the former transport secretary Stephen Byers said this week...
Torbay Council has won a major concession from the Audit Commission after reaching a deal to drop legal action against its Comprehensive Performance Assessment score.
A joint statement on June 4...
The train drivers' union Aslef is bucking its Labour Party affiliation by backing Ken Livingstone for re-election to his post as mayor of London.
At its Scarborough conference this week, the union...
The government's NHS modernisation plans were boosted this week as the British Medical Association sent out ballot forms effectively urging its GP members to accept new contract proposals.
The...
The government will need to invest heavily to make a success of radical changes to the voting process urged this week by the Electoral Commission.
Proposed reforms include individual rather than...
Two hospitals on the government's short list to become foundation trusts this autumn are the subject of 'serious' financial and managerial concerns at the Audit Commission, it was revealed this week...
France looks set to be plunged into chaos again next week after prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Cabinet backed controversial public sector pension reforms on May 28.
The government's...
The Scottish Parliament failed to consider the cost implications when it legislated to provide mainstream teaching for pupils with special education needs, Audit Scotland has found.
In a report...
Local government employers this week rubbished union proposals for a £6.50 an hour minimum wage in the sector, claiming it would add £2bn to council wage bills and force £100-a-year tax rises on to...
The Food Standards Agency has come under fire from both environment minister Michael Meacher and consumer groups over the merits of organic and genetically modified food.
Heated exchanges have...
Future investment in public services will suffer if Britain fails to join the euro, European commissioner Neil Kinnock has warned.
In an interview with Public Finance , Kinnock, who is vice...
Councils will be forced to 'run to stand still' if the Audit Commission's proposals for reassessing the performance league tables are implemented, the Local Government Association has warned.
The...
Network Rail turned in a £290m loss for 2002/03, compared with the £295m profit made by the now-defunct Railtrack in its final year. Last year, spending on renewals increased by 32% to £2.5bn from £1...
The government is heading for another public row with the unions this summer unless the tortuous negotiations over disputes in outsourced contracts are resolved swiftly, it emerged this week.
It is dramatic, to say the least: applications for asylum fell from 8,900 last October to 4,565 in March this year just as Tony Blair suggested and in line with his promise to cut the monthly...
A Bill to abolish NHS trusts and establish community health partnerships in Scotland will be one of the first priorities of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Executive, First Minister Jack...
Service in some English hospitals is now worse than it was in 2000, the Conservatives claimed this week.
The party compared waiting lists in March to those in December 2000. It found that at 53 of...
Prison reform experts have slammed the government's slow response to concerns about overcrowding in UK jails in the wake of yet another critical report by the sector's watchdog.
Following a damning...
Government plans to revive cottage hospitals are based on 'resources that do not exist and technology that has yet to be invented', the British Medical Association said this week.
In February,...
