Top NHS hospitals will be put off applying for foundation trust status if the proposed new regulator is not truly independent, NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards warned this week.
The Local Government Association has condemned the government's plans to fine councils that delay patients' discharge from hospital as a 'spectacular own goal' that could cost some social services...
Londoners could face a huge rise in council tax next year to pay for Mayor Ken Livingstone's spending plans, after the capital's police and fire services said they needed a rise of £35 per household...
Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell was fighting this week to distance himself from a constituency funding scandal that threatens to mar his term of office.
The widely anticipated suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly on October 14 was preceded by a flurry of important announcements by ministers before they left their jobs.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has hit back at claims that it had finalised plans to limit the availability of a laser treatment that could save the sight of 5,000 people a year.
The Commons' Public Administration Select Committee is to launch a wide-ranging inquiry into the effects of targets and league tables on the public services.
Too many social service departments are failing to provide well for their clients, according to a new report from inspectors. Sixteen of the 30 councils that have had their social services reviewed...
Up to one-third of homes owned by registered social landlords need to be improved to meet the decent homes standard, according to two new studies by the Housing Corporation.
Local authorities have vowed to step up the campaign to wrest more freedoms from Whitehall, despite the Treasury embracing a 'new localism' for decision-making.
The unions are to press again for a fair wages resolution in public-private partnerships following the promise of a review into the two-tier workforce last week. But the private sector has...
A row over which section of government will pick up the tab for the impending firefighters' strike is looming, with councils fearing that they could again be left to bear the costs.
Senior health service managers will have a code of conduct written into their employment contracts for the first time under plans unveiled this week by NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp.
Only months after a damning report on management practices at Corby Borough Council, independent inspectors have again blasted the authority for 'weak' and 'ineffective' oversight of contracts...
Proposals by Scotland's first minister to improve the workings of the European Union have been backed by the body that represents Europe's devolved governments, local authorities and regions.
The government will fail to meet its recruitment target of 15,000 extra GPs and hospital consultants by 2008 because it is not training enough doctors, a leading health care think-tank said this week...
The salaries of hundreds of thousands of NHS staff must be moved closer to those of teachers and police officers or they will leave the service, health unions warned this week.
An independent commission to investigate low and unequal pay across local government has been hit by a new setback after the professor due to chair it demanded a reduction in personnel.
The custodians of the capital's double yellow lines have become the latest group of council workers to strike over London weighting as unions aim to hit councils' income.
Education officials are to concentrate on reform of the A-level system following the conclusion of an independent inquiry into the recent marking fiasco.
Paul Kirby is to play a crucial role in the government's drive to reshape public services after being appointed head of reform strategy at the Cabinet Office.
Public service unions are hopeful that Tony Blair's speech at the Labour Party conference in Blackpool this week offers a renewed opportunity for debate over the vexed question of the use of the...
