Bath and North East Somerset's social services department must improve its children's services if it is to meet the challenges of Best Value, according to a joint report from the Audit Commission and...
The Treasury is no longer considered to be the 'enemy' of other Whitehall departments, Gill Noble, deputy director of its public services directorate, said this week.
Town halls could be forced to accelerate their electronic service delivery programmes following the prime minister's pledge to get the whole of Britain on-line by 2005.
The government this week promised £10m in emergency aid to local authorities coping with large numbers of asylum seekers, but Home Office ministers backtracked on a promise to take responsibility for...
NHS managers and doctors were asking how they would cope with increased patient expectation and lack of cash this week as Health Secretary Alan Milburn launched a plan to cut deaths from heart...
Council tax bills across England and Wales are predicted to rise by an average of 6.3% to £837 for band D properties in 2000/01 about three times the rate of inflation.
A new training programme has been launched by the Improvement and Development Agency (Idea) to help prepare local government managers for new political arrangements and Best Value.
A planned council tax increase of 12% in the London Borough of Hillingdon was dropped at the last minute on Monday in favour of a rise of 7.9%, after the government came up with an 11th-hour grant...
The chief inspector of nuclear installations told MPs this week that concerns that a public-private partnership for the troubled British nuclear industry would reduce safety were unfounded.
Chief Inspector of Schools Chris Woodhead has urged the government to stop dodging the thorny issue of school finance reform, warning that without extra funding for poor schools the problems of...
A second year of modest council tax rises in Scotland was expected to be announced on March 9, with average figures within the 5% ceiling set by the Scottish Executive.
The recent reforms proposed by Sir Richard Wilson, the head of the civil service, are 'self-indulgent' and take no account of cost, according to a leading former civil servant.
Health minister John Denham has called on health authorities to give greater support to primary care groups (PCGs) after a Department of Health survey showed wide variations in the amount of money...
The Inland Revenue is likely to pursue a compensation claim against Andersen Consulting after a catalogue of delays with the new National Insurance Recording System has left it four years behind...
Ken Livingstone, still pondering whether to abandon the Labour Party and run against official candidate Frank Dobson for the post of London's mayor, said on March 1 that it would be a further two...
Current audit arrangements for councils, largely carried out within the public sector, keep fees down, local government minister Hilary Armstrong claimed this week.
Up to 1.3 million local government workers are set to receive a pay rise of just 3% despite warnings that councils are facing a worsening recruitment crisis.
