The Home Office has parachuted a hit squad into the crisis-hit Criminal Records Bureau amid warnings that the delays in criminal checks could last into next year.
The head of corporate performance at the London Borough of Ealing has criticised the government for its inability to 'join up and join in' and for the contradictory messages sent out by the various...
MPs have delivered a damning indictment of the government's previous attempt to overhaul local government and accused it of failing to meet the objectives of its reforms.
Public workers fail to understand how targets and performance measures fit into their core jobs, the Audit Commission said this week, as its research revealed that many staff were leaving the sector...
Rossendale Borough Council in Lancashire has been given a final warning that it faces government intervention unless it achieves rapid improvement in its services.
Unions and local education authorities are demanding compensation for schools as thousands are closing classrooms and using supply teachers after the Criminal Records Bureau failed to clear its...
Councils will be able to set their own complaints procedures for education and dispose of land at their discretion as the government begins to dismantle its overarching consent regimes.
The leader of Britain's trades union movement this week stepped up the campaign to halt the privatisation of public services, when he warned Tony Blair not to 'charge ahead' with reforms 'assuming he...
Worsening sectarian violence in north and east Belfast is contributing to homelessness in Northern Ireland. More than 14,000 households presented themselves as homeless last year, compared with fewer...
The NHS in England is to get a further £10m to develop intensive care facilities for critically ill children, health minister Jacqui Smith announced this week.
Almost 1,000 complaints have been made against local councillors in the past four months, since the introduction of a new code of conduct under the Local Government Act 2000.
Local authority leaders are lobbying to keep child protection services firmly in the grip of local communities and councils, rather than under a centrally controlled child protection agency.
This week's war of words on firefighters' pay is rapidly moving towards action as the Fire Brigades Union prepares to ballot for its first strike in 25 years after rejecting outright the government's...
The Fire Brigades Union is to press ahead with a ballot for its first national strike over pay in 25 years, while employers have been left to make last-ditch attempts at negotiations after the...
Parliamentarians and patients' bodies have blasted NHS managers for failing to make modifications to dangerous anaesthetic machines.
Health minister David Lammy this week announced that 139...
Students who volunteer to help in the community should earn a reduction in the cost of going to university, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
In a report due to be published...
The Liberal Democrats are to unveil a package of criminal justice polices at their annual conference next month, including the creation of a new Ministry of Justice to replace the Lord Chancellor's...
Councils in the capital are facing more strike action after three unions agreed to step up their campaign for an increase in London weighting this week.
At a meeting between Unison, the T...