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...
The Department of Health will not relax hospitals' performance targets even though most may be asked to treat soldiers injured in the Iraq conflict in addition to their normal work.
Hospitals will...
The Liberal Democrats hope to benefit from Labour's unpopularity over the Iraq crisis and the continuing doldrums of the Tories to make serious gains in May's local elections.
The party's spring...
MPs this week described as 'appalling' the government's delay in informing 6 million people who are expected to retire between 2002 and 2010 of possible cuts to their inherited state pensions.
The...
The government has confirmed it is to throw another multimillion pound lifeline to the beleaguered private company in charge of Britain's skies.
Under a refinancing deal approved by the Civil...
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'...
Suspicions among council highways and transport officers that their budgets are being plundered by education and social services colleagues have been reinforced by the Commission for Integrated...
The government is in danger of leaving more children in care and custody than ever before, despite its good intentions to tackle anti-social behaviour, the children's charity Barnardo's warned this...
Councils are to press local government minister Nick Raynsford for extra cash to meet the costs of ending the two-tier workforce in outsourced contracts.
The Local Government Association executive...
The head of the NHS's newly beefed-up counter fraud and security agency has vowed to clamp down on violent assaults against staff in the sector after union claims that the number of incidents is on...
Local Government Association economic and environmental policy director Neil Kinghan is crossing back into central government to become director general for local and regional government at the...
Four London boroughs are being forced to cut the discounts they offer council tenants who buy their homes through the right to buy scheme, despite telling Whitehall they want to retain existing...
MPs have slammed the government's handling of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis as 'inexcusable', claiming ministers' slow reaction to events contributed to the spread of the disease and meant the cost...
The NHS has reached a pivotal point in its ten-year modernisation programme and faces serious challenges in the next few years, according to a report by an influential group of health care staff and...
Ofsted chief inspector David Bell has denied that he 'over-exaggerated' the poor quality of further education colleges.
Appearing before the education select committee on March 12, Bell said the...
An NHS trust this week denied it will have to close a celebrated teaching hospital because of a Private Finance Initiative 'blunder'.
St Mary's Trust said it favoured keeping its Western Eye...
Prisons have suffered a huge turnover of governors and record sickness levels among staff, the Prison Reform Trust has claimed.
In research published this week, the pressure group said that just...
The Department for Education and Skills has accused the London Borough of Croydon of needlessly withholding money from schools.
In a funding row that shows no signs of abating, Croydon and...
Auditor general Bob Black has found that almost a quarter of the £18.8m claimed in Scotland by providers under the Individual Learning Accounts scheme was probably fraudulent.
The much-criticised...
As the British armed forces gear themselves for a seemingly inevitable conflict in the Gulf, MPs have warned the Ministry of Defence it must equip soldiers properly for extreme conditions following a...
Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith has vowed to scrap NHS waiting list targets if the party wins the next election, under plans outlined in a consultation document.
Tapping into the...
Almost 1,000 teaching assistants made legal history this week when their union lodged the biggest equal pay claim to be made in Europe.
Unison has lodged the claim with an employment tribunal in...
