Chancellor Gordon Brown could be sitting on an even bigger budget surplus than anticipated because government departments are not spending their allocations, according to the Institute for Fiscal...
A last-minute £188m cash injection into this week's local government finance settlement may not be enough to head off mounting pay and service pressures, warn councils.
William Hague has promised that the next Conservative government would 'deregulate' schools and hospitals as part of a drive to boost standards in public services.
Local government minister Hilary Armstrong is to send a seven-strong financial hit squad into the London Borough of Hackney to help the troubled authority deal with its budget deficit.
A south London borough's £1bn-plus regeneration programme is under the spotlight after the shock resignation of its mayor from the Labour group last week.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has pledged an extra £100m for the government's neighbourhood renewal fund, doubling the amount of money being given to deprived areas next year. The money is in...
London Mayor Ken Livingstone faces a showdown with the Greater London Assembly over his controversial budget after public clashes with members this week. Livingstone stood by his guns as he presented...
A new magazine went on sale in British hospitals this week, with the aim of raising an extra £5m to make patients' stays more comfortable. The team behind feelgood hope that sales of their glossy mix...
Northern Ireland's finance and personnel committee is this week expected to propose an amendment to the province's bill for the introduction of resource accounting, to enable auditors to follow the...
Housing associations which raise substantial amounts of private investment must never forget their role as public sector bodies, their regulator warned this week. In his first major speech to the...
An 'apocalyptic' future awaits Scottish water authorities if forthcoming competition legislation does not protect them against the 'cherry-picking' of their lucrative industrial contracts, an...
Cemeteries, it appears, have become perilous places. According to the Association of Burial Authorities, the problem is the gravestones themselves: one in ten, it says, is a public danger. Crumbling...
More than 40% of government services are now available electronically, and this figure is set to reach 75% by 2002, according to statistics released this week by the Cabinet Office. This puts...
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has vehemently rejected suggestions that he is about to agree a compromise with the government over its controversial plans to partially privatise the Tube.
Unison has agreed to suspend strike action in Scottish local authorities after securing a number of 'guarantees' from employers which could lead to a £5 an hour minimum wage for workers.
Public Finance readers who know their ISPs from their HTMLs will be keen to take part in a major analysis of electronic government being undertaken by the magazine. They will also get the chance to...
A year-long mass vaccination programme that cost £20m has prevented 50 deaths from meningitis C and almost completely eradicated the disease, the Department of Health said this week
Plans by four councils to experiment with all-postal ballots to increase voter turnout at local elections could be scuppered by the imminent General Election
Staff at the London Borough of Hackney are to escalate their industrial action against the drastic cuts the council has drawn up to tackle its financial crisis
Local authorities hoping arm's length management companies will prove an attractive alternative to the wholesale transfer of council housing may face a tortuous journey setting one up
