Weak and substandard procurement practices that have already cost the Ministry of Defence more than £60m could be the tip of the iceberg, a report from the National Audit Office revealed this week.
The targets announced by Tony Blair for the government's use of the Internet are under review and could be toughened following criticism that they are too general and vague.
Doctors who come under police investigation or are subject to complaints about their performance could face immediate suspension under proposals being considered by the General Medical Council.
Housing associations have been promised lighter regulation and less bureaucracy as the Housing Corporation studies new ways to cope with the growing number of registered social landlords (RSLs).
A new video featuring ethnic minority civil servants will be taken into local communities to try to change Whitehall's 'all white' image, Cabinet Office minister Mo Mowlam announced this week.
The government has insisted that legislation creating directly elected mayors will still be law by the summer, despite this week's defeat in the House of Lords of part of the Local Government Bill.
Chris Woodhead, the chief inspector for schools, has warned that performance-related pay will have little real impact on teachers' earnings, because one in ten head teachers are incapable of...
Cabinet secretary Sir Richard Wilson this week admitted there was scope for changing the way government departments are funded, and that they could even consider bidding for money from a central 'pot...
Education Secretary David Blunkett has ordered government intervention into the education authority in his home town of Sheffield after it was slated by Ofsted inspectors.
French, Italian, Portuguese and Belgian environment ministers were gathering in Brussels this week to back calls for 'Car-Free Day 2000' to be extended across the European Union. The launch on...
Receipts on France's state-run Pari-Mutuel (PMU) horse race betting network are rising, which is good news for the French ministry of finance. The bad news is that the rise is only slight and the...
Public services in France faced severe disruption this week as the compulsory 35-hour working week became reality. February 1 was the due date for the introduction of the much-debated 'loi Aubry'...
The City of Naples' search for a private partner to relaunch the southern Italian spa resort of Terme di Agnano has been narrowed down to two Italian consortiums, both with interests in the leisure...
Keele University has become the first higher education institution in the UK to use a bond to finance the refurbishment of its student accommodation and pay off its debts.
Ministers will lead a robust reaffirmation of government policy at Labour's Local Governance conference this weekend when they will tell local authorities in blunt terms to 'reform or die'.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn has sought to draw a line under the prime minister's ill-judged comments on health spending last month with a conciliatory message that big money will be pumped into the...
National Health Service bed numbers came under renewed scrutiny this week. A spot check revealed that patients were waiting on trolleys much longer than the Department of Health's four-hour limit.
The NHS is failing to meet its New Deal target and there is evidence that a significant number of health service employers have yet to commit themselves to the initiative.
Conservatives in local government this week defended the sacking of John Redwood, one of the few high-profile members of William Hague's shadow cabinet, claiming he was part of the 'party's past'.
The government's attempts to modernise Whitehall were stepped up this week with the publication of the second report of the Public Services Productivity Panel.
