Education Secretary Estelle Morris stepped into the crisis at the Criminal Records Bureau this week, granting local education authorities access to interim criminal checks to cut the delays in...
Is it ministerial refusal to bow to pressure to change the face of public sector benefits? A surprise affirmation of unions' power to influence policy? Or a deliberately vague document that hides a...
Local government leaders are fighting attempts to incorporate business rates into the revenue support grant, a move that would extinguish all hope of their return to town hall control.
The modernised NHS will be built on 'very flaky foundations' if the government does not allow managers to divert more cash into propping up basic health services, NHS Confederation chief executive...
The Local Government Association has warned that its acceptance of the government's proposals for the English regions hinges on there being 'a genuine devolution of power from Whitehall'.
Campaigners opposed to the Private Finance Initiative are continuing their struggle with Leeds Council over a multimillion pound housing refurbishment scheme.
'No blank cheques' was Chancellor Gordon Brown's warning to public sector workers, after pledging £40bn to the NHS in the Budget. Last week's pay settlement for 300,000 health service staff showed...
The NHS could save millions of pounds each year and promote better health by playing a more proactive role in local communities, a King's Fund report says this week.
The former Parliamentary commissioner for standards, Elizabeth Filkin, has called for her successor to be given more resources and for the independence of the position to be properly protected.
A new public service ethos should be built into the procurement process to allow public bodies to test the suitability of potential providers, a think-tank has said.
Birmingham and Bradford city councils could face another six months of uncertainty before the government decides whether it will impose mayoral referendums on them, after the Electoral Commission's...
The government is to draw up proposals for a single body to police all forms of discrimination in what has been hailed as the biggest shake-up in equalities' policy for 25 years.
Britain's largest public sector union has rounded on the Audit Commission and accused it of trying to use Comprehensive Performance Assessments to promote privatisation, Public Finance has learned...
The UK's biggest civil service union has demanded assurances from ministers that its e-government initiatives will not lead to substantial job cuts, after the e-envoy indicated that there could be...
Trade unions have reacted with anger to the Local Government Best Value Review findings, unveiled this week, claiming that ministers have failed to tackle adequately the contentious issue of the two-...
The Commons' health select committee has delivered an equivocal verdict on the Private Finance Initiative in its long-awaited report on private sector involvement in the NHS.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn heeded calls to avoid further upheaval at four poor-performing trusts by awarding the franchises for their management to their acting chief executives this week.
The future outline of English regional government was laid out on May 9 when Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers launched the regions white paper.
External managers have been sent into the Royal United Hospital in Bath following the disclosure of poor financial management and the possible falsification of waiting lists.
