Leadership will be a crucial skill for local managers and politicians as the number of partnerships grows across the public services. Adopting the right behaviours is more important than applying...
University top-up fees were a very awkward electoral issue for the Labour government in the 2005 general election. So it is not surprising that in the present election campaign, fees have been kept...
As election fever grips the British public, or at least the press, it’s a case of another week, another public sector senior manager pay ‘scandal’. This weekend it was The Observer railing against ‘...
Unprotected services, which include social services, environmental provision, fire, arts, culture and libraries, transport and housing, can expect cuts of approaching 25%.
There were further signs of economic recovery in the private sector average earnings figures released by the Office for National Statistics on April 21
There are big opportunities to cut public spending without crippling our public services. Politicians need to tackle waste, eliminate duplication and decentralise.
Change. It’s what we all want, apparently. It’s the reason for a belated surge of interest in the election campaign, the eruption of Cleggmania, and a seismic shift in the polls.
The major parties promise more local power, but what they mean is devolution to the community, not councils. Either way, the localism debate has been reignited
News that the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Union of Teachers plan a boycott of the tests for 11 year-olds in English and Maths may be cause for immediate celebration on the...
Welfare is rarely a hot election issue, but given the challenges of unemployment and the deficit, it absolutely should be. Demos is championing a new philosophy, called Liberation Welfare.
The government should create an independent commission to help maintain the Local Government Pension Scheme as a vehicle for providing valued retirement income for council staff
In the middle of an election campaign there is still one word which eludes politicians. It took a long time to admit that government spending outweighed what we can afford, it took even longer to...
High unemployment remains a burning issue, but other policy priorities as the UK emerges from recession include the need to increase productivity, the changing demand for skills, and the need to...
The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development says that up to half a million public sector jobs could be lost within the next five years, whoever wins the election. The effects of such cuts...
The NHS is a central part of the election campaign. But, so far, neither party has clearly stated their plans either to rein in healthcare spending or to make the NHS more efficient.
Your story, ‘Police forces could face huge staffing cuts, watchdog warns’ (March 19–25), refers to value-for-money assessments showing Hertfordshire Police spending ‘proportionally more than three...
I was very sad to read your article on the likely demise of election night counts (‘Out for the count: is the end of late-night elections?’, News Analysis, March 19–25).
Despite talk of the ‘danger’ of a hung Parliament, a combined government with some 60% of the vote would have more legitimacy than one with a slim majority
ROBERT CHOTE and CARL EMMERSON The Conservative manifesto did not tell us anything about their tax and spending plans we did not already know. In particular, it was no more explicit about how much...
The British used to be known for their modesty and reticence on pay: it was something we didn't talk about, not like those brash Americans with their bonuses and the extrovert Scandinavians with...
