Sir Michael Bichard, permanent secretary at the Department for Education and Employment, has announced unexpectedly that he will leave Whitehall at the end of May.
The code of conduct for government ministers should be beefed up and lines of accountability strengthened, according to a cross-party committee of MPs.
The Local Government Association has asked the Treasury to fund a £200m shortfall created by the teachers' pay increase agreed by the government last week.
The government should quadruple the 'participation premiums' given to universities for admitting students from poor socio-economic backgrounds, according to the Commons education select committee.
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.
The most expensive building venture undertaken by English Partnerships, the government's national urban regeneration and development agency, faces its acid test this week when the London Borough of...
Ofsted chief inspector Mike Tomlinson adopted a new, conciliatory approach to local education authorities this week, despite the publication of a report that accuses LEAs of having little effect on...
The Welsh Assembly laid itself open to the risk of fraud by failing to perform the most basic accounting requirements, according to a scathing report this week from the National Audit Office.
A consortium of Welsh local authorities is demanding the Home Office keep its promise to reimburse them for money spent developing services to help asylum seekers.
A powerful committee of MPs has slated the Lord Chancellor's department for its lax handling of the failing Public Trust Office. It also questioned the decision to pay the PTO's departing chief...
Although local authority fraud is down for the first time in ten years, councils still face an uphill battle to control housing benefit fraud, the Audit Commission warned this 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...
