HEATHER WAKEFIELD | Inadequate funding of home care will make the laudable aims of the National Care Service unattainable. The poor treatment of the workforce will undermine the need to raise...
STEVE FREER | Getting real alignment of political and management agendas is one of the critical challenges that needs to be addressed ahead of any large cuts programmes
TONY DOLPHIN | Politicians are prioritising plans to reduce the budget deficit in the run-up to the election. But they should hold off major spending cuts until growth picks up
MIKE THATCHER | Christine Gilbert had a glimpse this week of what it’s like to be berated for poor performance and to have your apparent failings dissected by what were once known as Fleet Street’s...
CONOR RYAN | Today's Ofsted annual report has both good and bad news. There has been a substantial increase in the number of 'good' and 'outstanding' schools - the equivalent of 1800 extra good...
INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES | One of the 13 bills in the recent Queen's Speech was the Child Poverty Bill, carried over from the previous Parliamentary Session.
IAN MULHEIRN | All the political parties are competing to find solutions to the record numbers of unemployed young people. But this should not be at the expense of the over-24s
VIVIENNE RUSSELL | The prime minister, who yearns to regain his reputation for careful stewardship of the nation’s finances, put fiscal responsibility firmly at the heart of his new, and possibly...
JONATHAN BLAND | Today is Social Enterprise Day, and a fitting day indeed to find out that social enterprises are bucking the trend during the recession and are optimistic about future growth
Your web story ‘Best councils “penalised” by audit fee changes, says LGA’ included a misleading comment from the Local Government Association regarding the Audit Commission’s new scales of fees
JIM GEE | There might be another way to achieve major savings. We could start by combating fraud more effectively, in both the public and private sectors
JOAN MUNRO | The results of the Local Government Workforce Survey 2009 show that most chief executives now recognise the importance of a skilled and motivated workforce in delivering their...
TONY TRAVERS | As Britain rushes headlong towards a general election, the political parties are starting to put forward new ideas for public service reform, including ‘localism’
