Critics of choice in public services claim that ordinary people don't want it. Quite the opposite, argues Julian Le Grand it's the least well-off who stand to gain the most
With education set to take the lion's share of public spending increases, what are the prospects for other departments? The chancellor will have little room to manoeuvre in the Comprehensive...
Nurses and doctors from developing countries can no longer be poached by the NHS, but other richer nations do not have the same restrictions. Ministers Rosie Winterton and Gareth Thomas call for a...
Self-governing trust schools are New Labour's latest big idea for education. But confusion still reigns over their structure and how they will be governed in practice. Tash Shifrin investigates
Chancellor Gordon Brown this week injected further momentum into the government's devolution agenda but the tone emerging from Number 11 points towards a regionalist approach at the expense of...
As education leaders rushed to praise a Budget that promised huge increases in education spending, it emerged that the Treasury's familiar sleight of hand was in evidence.
Auditors this week called on Whitehall departments to improve the data underpinning crucial government targets amid fears that more than half of Public Service Agreements are flawed.
Yes, the government missed its 2004/05 target for reducing the number of children in poverty but it has made some heartening progress towards the overall goal. Ian Kearns explains what it needs to...
Local authorities have made efficiency savings, yet ever-increasing social care demands continue to put pressure on their budgets. It's time to come up with a fair and sustainable system of funding
In 2003, angry pensioners were taking to the streets as council tax soared, unchecked by government. This year, ministers cracked the whip and councils meekly complied. Tony Travers explains what's...
The government narrowly failed to meet its ambitious target to reduce child poverty by a quarter by 2005, but senior sources are confident that the Department for Work and Pensions will achieve its...
The government's goal of 50% participation in higher education is still a long way off. And top-up fees could make a bad situation worse, particularly for working-class students. Stephen Court...
Ministers have secured sufficient support to see the education Bill over its first parliamentary hurdle but further battles are likely, education experts predict.
David Rowland, the permanent secretary at the Department for Transport, has been asked by the Treasury to co-ordinate Whitehall's latest attempt at a multi-billion pound savings drive through shared...
Not for Scotland the path well trodden. While Westminster endorses market-based public service reforms, the Scottish Executive is ploughing its own furrow on education, health and immigration. Iain...
Public sector staff worked £9.1bn worth of unpaid overtime last year, with those taking on additional work providing the equivalent of an extra day each week, according to research published this...
Much of Whitehall's reform agenda is incompatible with its current constitutional position a situation that could be solved by a Civil Service Act, according to the sector's former appointments...
Social mobility has stalled, despite the government's best efforts to raise the aspirations of children from working-class homes. Effective reform of local services will be crucial to turning this...
Everyone agrees that the council tax is regressive but there's less consensus on the solution. The interim Lyons report plumped for reforming the benefit system and not the bands. But both are...
& is a problem halved. But not when public bodies can't agree on the best ways to collaborate. Judy Hirst explains why sharing services is so hard to do
