New companies set up by high-performing councils to manage their housing are enjoying a cash windfall from the government.
Twelve months after the first eight arm's-length management organisations...
Stock transfers have suffered a further blow after council tenants in Stockport voted against moving to a new housing association.
Stockport, which has just over 13,000 homes, was the largest urban...
Local education authorities must act to tackle a 'very worrying' level of violence and abuse against teachers.
That was the message from Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association...
Local government leaders hit out at the government this week after Nick Raynsford demanded an explanation from authorities for the 'excessive' council tax increases that some have levied.
Plans to bring US-style regeneration to Britain's city centres could be undermined by a row over funding.
From April 2004, Business Improvement Districts (Bids), credited with turning around the...
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has launched a £435m programme to provide children's centres in the most deprived parts of England.
The centres will offer childcare, nursery education, parenting...
London congestion charge supremo Derek Turner is to leave mayor Ken Livingstone's Transport for London only five weeks after the scheme's successful introduction amid rumours of management rows....
Widespread concern over the revised local authority grant formula led the government to stump up an additional £28m for schools this week, but ministers denied the cash boost had been influenced by...
New programmes for helping people who live in sheltered housing could be threatened by contractual rows between councils and landlords.
The National Housing Federation, which represents housing...
Town hall leaders are to mount a campaign against government plans for foundation hospitals, claiming they could dilute their own democratic mandate.
As Public Finance went to press, the...
Government ministers should not commit themselves to meeting the targets set out in their departments' public service agreements (PSAs) because it is counterproductive, Estelle Morris has warned....
Violence and aggression against staff could be costing the NHS £69m a year, the National Audit Office said this week.
In a report, A safer place to work: protecting NHS hospital and ambulance staff...
Government proposals aimed at preventing the £29bn pensions 'timebomb' from exploding are not radical enough, ministers were warned this week.
Final submissions on Work and Pensions Secretary...
Manchester has become the first local authority to sign a contract to improve council housing directly through the Private Finance initiative.
The contract was signed on March 25 three and a half...
Private and voluntary sector organisations could apply to become NHS foundation trusts under proposals being put forward by Health Secretary Alan Milburn, it emerged this week.
In a move that will...
Taxpayers will be millions of pounds worse off during the next 30 years because ex-council homes are being renovated by new landlords rather than by local authorities, the National Audit Office said...
Plans to give council and housing association tenants a financial stake in their homes look unlikely to get off the ground after research failed to find support from landlords and lenders.
The...
The government's £40bn public-private investment programme was dealt another blow this week by authoritative claims that potential investors are snubbing the market, following a 'substantial'...
An ambulance service that expanded a temporary staffing pilot into a £60m agency in a rush to meet Whitehall deadlines was left with a £10m deficit, the district auditor reported this week.
A...
Teenagers who speak English as an additional language need greater support to develop their literacy during their examination years, according to Ofsted inspectors.
The education watchdog says many...
The Welsh Assembly has said it will 'consider in depth' a National Audit Office recommendation to restructure the way its NHS directorate procures medicines, after auditors said it could save £50m a...
Kevin Curran, a staunch opponent of government plans to introduce foundation hospitals, has emerged as the favourite to succeed John Edmonds as general secretary of the powerful GMB union later this...
The Fire Brigades Union has two weeks to persuade members to accept a 16% pay deal after a special conference voted overwhelmingly against it in a bruising episode for its ruling executive council...
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has refused to give MPs an undertaking that universities successful in raising money themselves would be protected from a corresponding cut in central government...
The British Medical Association and the NHS Confederation have been forced to revisit the funding formula for GP practices in the proposed new contract amid fears that family doctors could reject the...
