More than 40% of benefit claimants who enter work are back on the dole within six months, auditors have reported, casting doubt on ministers' plans to get millions more people into sustainable...
Wales has rejected the Blair-led notion that the private sector should be a major service provider. Andrew Davies, minister for finance and public service delivery, talks to Alex Klaushofer about...
Local government leaders' eyes are firmly fixed on the detail of the forthcoming Revenue Support Grant for some certainty on exactly where the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement has left them.
The timing could hardly have been worse. Job creation is the Northern Ireland Executive's top priority, Finance Minister Peter Robinson announced in his Budget.
Ways to cope with the economic and social implications of an ageing society are at last on the government's to-do list. Public Finance and Deloitte convened a round table of politicians and policy...
The Comprehensive Spending Review held no surprises with only small increases in budgets. But how does this match with the rising needs of vulnerable older people, asks Anne Williams
A £250m contingency fund should be created by the Treasury to help councils facing unplanned costs and potential community tensions because of poor immigration monitoring, town hall leaders have...
Anti-poverty campaigners this week expressed disappointment that the government's new Child Poverty Unit will not include Treasury officials, despite the department's role in achieving crucial...
The government wants neighbourhoods and communities to run more services. But with an eye-wateringly tight local government financial settlement, how will this be funded? Peter Hetherington...
'Personalised public services' is the Brown government's latest Big Idea. But how are the ambitious plans for round-the-clock GP services, individual health budgets and one-to-one tutoring going to...
An ageing population presents a series of issues that must be addressed now, if millions of people are to have a decent old age. Rebecca George looks at the challenges ahead
Senior MPs this week criticised the government's flagship academy schools programme for failing to control costs, with almost two-thirds of the first buildings running over budget.
Council and social care leaders are warning that the government must use its forthcoming green paper on adult services funding to fundamentally rethink the system.
Schools in Northern Ireland must ask for proof of parents' addresses if there is a 'general knowledge or belief' that some are giving false details, the Department of Education has said.
The new chancellor's first Pre-Budget Report forecast a temporary dip in revenue and slowed the growth in spending. Both of these pose risks for the government's grand plans for public services
Local Government and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is under pressure to sign up to an 'accord' to eradicate child poverty, after Chancellor Alistair Darling's Comprehensive Spending Review...
Louise Casey, the government's 'respect' czar, is leaving her post to head a review into ways of involving local communities in anti-crime initiatives.
Great Ormond Street hospital has gone public on its intention to establish a trading charity to circumvent the cap on private patient income for NHS foundation trusts.
