Councils ranked 'excellent' in the Comprehensive Performance Assessments are becoming increasingly frustrated at the government's failure to deliver the promised freedoms and flexibilities.
The 22...
Local authority spending has risen by 26% since 1998, according to a new survey, with education leading the way.
The survey, by market intelligence service Key Note, shows that councils spent £77....
Non-profit-distributing public interest companies have a 'potentially important role' to play in public service delivery, says a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research. But it warns...
Just one in five young voters bothered to show up at the polling booth in the 2001 general election, the first major study of first-time voters has shown.
Researchers found that only 21% of 18 and...
Primary care t rusts must prepare for an exodus of clinical managers over the next two years, according to a survey by the NHS Alliance.
The body, which represents PCTs, said that half the doctors...
NHS consultants this week threatened industrial action over their contracts despite the government's abandonment of plans to make them work over weekends and in the evenings.
Last year, consultants...
Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans to open offshore 'processing centres' for asylum seekers coming into Europe will not work unless they are accompanied by an overhaul of migration management, a...
Ministers are poised to create the first urban development corporation in ten years in an attempt to help house-building east of London.
Proposals for a UDC in Thurrock, Essex, were published by...
Local authority housing departments will no longer undergo an annual performance assessment under a new funding regime coming into force next year.
Although regional government offices must be told...
The government may have to impose measures to resolve employment disputes in outsourced council contracts after insiders claimed this week that negotiations between unions and business were fraught...
Work will begin in the autumn on a groundbreaking public-private partnership that will revolutionise health services in Greater Manchester, it has been announced.
The £100m Manchester, Salford and...
Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell has announced an independent inquiry into the soaring cost of the new Holyrood Scottish Parliament building in an apparent attempt to head off election...
Head teachers this week accused ministers of playing a deliberate 'smoke and mirrors' game with education budgets, using 'double or triple counting' tricks to play up bottom-line increases in funding...
North Tyneside's elected mayor, Chris Morgan, has resigned after being questioned by police on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
Morgan, one of 11 US-style executive mayors...
Members of the royal colleges of nursing and midwifery have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new pay system that will raise their salaries by an average of 12.5% over three years.
MPs this week launched a scathing attack on the government's complex community regeneration initiatives, claiming that Whitehall has too much control over the budgets for local schemes.
The Commons...
Competition for public sector finance jobs is increasing because of the sector's 'recession proof' status, according to research out later this month.
The survey of public sector salaries by...
The government is currently wasting millions of pounds on research commissioned by Whitehall departments because so little of it filters through to policy improvements, auditors have warned on April...
CIPFA has published its financial results for 2002, showing a strong overall performance. Turnover reached £32.8m, 13% up on 2001, while the financial surplus was £428,000.
The institute said the...
Action must be taken to tackle staff shortages in mental health services, two leading think-tanks said this week.
In separate publications, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) and the...
The London Borough of Ealing has had its Comprehensive Performance Assessment upgraded from 'weak' to 'fair' after the Audit Commission was forced to admit the authority had been wrongly evaluated.
The European Union's investigation into fraud in the Committee of the Regions, the body that represents Europe's local and regional government, is a 'storm in a teacup', a leading member claimed this...
Plans to create an all-powerful health service inspectorate were in chaos this week following the shock resignation of its chief executive elect.
Peter Homa, who was appointed chief inspector of...
The Fire Brigades Union has urged employers to 'look again' at independent proposals to end the firefighters' dispute after members rejected the 'full and final' offer this week.
