Child protection agencies have joined forces to try to stop vulnerable children slipping through the net as Lord Laming's damning report on the Victoria Climbié case was published.
Failure to run proper checks on the £4.7bn of tax credits paid out each year is leaving 'significant gaps in the control over public funds', according to the Commons' Public Accounts Committee.
While ballot frenzy hit London Labour Party ranks this week with the closing round to choose its mayoral candidate for the 2004 elections, the Liberal Democrats admitted that they had no interested...
Schools could soon be hosting health and social services, citizens' advice bureaux and even post offices under a pilot scheme to extend their use in the community.
Schools minister Cathy Ashton...
The Audit Commission will not take into account local authorities' financial resources or levels of deprivation when grading them under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, it has confirmed....
The Local Government Association has condemned the government's plans to fine councils that delay patients' discharge from hospital as a 'spectacular own goal' that could cost some social services...
Estelle Morris's political prospects had been looking so promising. Popular with teachers and the public alike, it seemed a certainty that she would be a long-standing and well-liked education...
The Home Office has parachuted a hit squad into the crisis-hit Criminal Records Bureau amid warnings that the delays in criminal checks could last into next year.
The NHS in England is to get a further £10m to develop intensive care facilities for critically ill children, health minister Jacqui Smith announced this week.
Local authority leaders are lobbying to keep child protection services firmly in the grip of local communities and councils, rather than under a centrally controlled child protection agency.
Unions and local education authorities are demanding compensation for schools as thousands are closing classrooms and using supply teachers after the Criminal Records Bureau failed to clear its...
A cross-party report has called for the government to support 'pioneering local initiatives' as well as more realistic funding to secure the future of social care.
The Spending Review has confirmed what many expected: large increases in resources for many public services. The Budget had already told us how far the overall spending envelope would grow, and laid...
Whitehall departments that benefited from Gordon Brown's largesse in Monday's long-awaited Spending Review will be expected to meet 'demanding' national targets.
Local authorities are resorting to employing staff before criminal checks are complete while the Criminal Records Bureau has turned to India this week to solve its 30,000 backlog in applications.
Scottish local government leaders have endorsed Jack McConnell's future legislative programme as one that will make a 'real difference to real people'.
External hit squads could be sent into the worst social services departments if they do not improve by November, the Department of Health confirmed this week.
Education Secretary Estelle Morris stepped into the crisis at the Criminal Records Bureau this week, granting local education authorities access to interim criminal checks to cut the delays in...
Schools in England's most crime-ridden areas are being offered their own personal police officers as part of the government's latest initiative to cut down on truancy and anti-social behaviour.
