Private companies must be allowed to absorb swathes of the public sector if service improvements are to be achieved, a former Treasury mandarin has claimed.
Regional rail services look set to move back into public sector control with ministers preparing to give major cities a key role in managing local train networks.
Civil servants across Whitehall are confused about who their 'customers' are, with many considering ministers their main focus for policy, a government-sponsored report reveals.
The chief executive of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has accused the Audit Commission of costing the taxpayer 'hundreds of thousands of pounds by producing 'unusable' inspection reports.
Local authorities are to be given clear guidance from the government on how much low-cost housing they should demand from developers under the system of 'planning gain'.
Bob Kiley, the transport commissioner for London, told Public Finance this week that the proposed controversial public-private partnership for the Tube was close to falling through.
The Welsh Assembly's finance minister has defended in resolute terms the decision to 'rebadge' Best Value and dilute the role of external inspection in the principality.
The government has suspended the Individual Learning Accounts scheme two weeks ahead of schedule after police made 39 arrests in connection with alleged fraud and theft.
Jack McConnell's ruthless Cabinet reshuffle is a political gamble which could rebound on Scotland's new first minister if his inexperienced appointees fail to deliver, according to a leading...
A promising start, but must try harder: that is the message from education professionals to the secretary of state Estelle Morris after her government's long-awaited Education Bill was published last...
Chancellor Gordon Brown propelled the debate on the future funding of the National Health Service to the top of the political agenda as he announced a £1bn boost in spending for next year in his pre-...
English local authorities could be up to £200m better off after local government minister Nick Raynsford unveiled plans to scrap the council tax discount for second-home owners.
Lottery funding body Sport England this week hit back at claims that its former chief executive received a 'secret' payoff of £500,000 when he left his post in June.
NHS managers are flocking to unions in the wake of growing concerns that they are being made unnecessary 'scapegoats' for failures in health, according to the FDA.
Members of the panel overseeing the government's review of Best Value were still being appointed as it prepared to meet for the first time last week, Public Finance has learned.
Local authorities reiterated their opposition to any enforced reorganisation this week as the government set a clear timetable for elected regional assemblies.
English councils are set to receive an increase of around 7% in grant when ministers unveil the provisional 2002/03 finance settlement next week, Public Finance can reveal.
The Employers Organisation is to set up a graduate training programme to try to attract some of the brightest and best university students into a career in local government.
