An influential Scottish Parliament committee has rejected local authority claims that cash generated by efficiency savings should be reinvested by individual councils.
Bromsgrove District Council is to vote next week on whether it should take the unique step of inviting the government to intervene to help it solve its 'long-standing problems'.
Local income tax should be levied only by large multi-service authorities and at a rate selected from a fixed menu of around five, according to new research from CIPFA.
Chancellor Gordon Brown might still need to raise taxes to avoid breaking his 'golden rule' on public spending over the current economic cycle, despite a temporary boost to Whitehall's finances in...
Cuts to jobs and services are on the way unless the government abandons plans to cap authorities, ministers have been warned, as those in the firing line submitted last-ditch appeals against the...
The budget targets set by the Scottish Executive contain 'very serious weaknesses', an economic consultant has told members of the Holyrood parliament's finance committee.
David James, the troubleshooter drafted in by the Conservative Party to identify possible Whitehall efficiency savings, is likely to make recommendations that would modify the way future Tory...
Business leaders have expressed scepticism about government plans to slash £20bn off the cost of running Whitehall, describing proposals as 'crude', and claiming that ministers could 'spin' success...
Spiralling public sector inflation is a deeper and more complex problem for local government than the council tax issue, the leader of Kent County Council said this week.
Senior MPs have expressed concerns that the Ministryof Defence is facing a cash crisis in the run up to this year's Spending Review, despite denials from the department's permanent secretary.
The rapid expansion in the NHS nursing workforce has been over-reliant on overseas recruitment and might not be sustainable in the long term, nursing leaders have warned.
The Home Office should take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Lyons review and move significant numbers of staff out of central London, a senior MP has urged.
Whitehall's statistics watchdog has moved to end political arguments over the use of civil service data by calling for new laws on how information is presented, claiming that the current setup is '...
Local authorities could move to three-year budgets in the Spending Review after the prime minister promised schools longer-term financial planning this week.
Labour and the Conservatives have fired the opening salvos in this year's local elections campaign, levelling allegations of high spending and town hall mismanagement at one other.
The Raynsford review of local government finance could amount to nothing with the current regime surviving in its present form, a senior civil servant has told MPs.
The UK's new revenue department is likely to be set challenging targets in the forthcoming Spending Review to reduce the Treasury's estimated £32bn £42bn annual tax gap, it emerged this week.
The growing number of NHS bodies failing to balance their books is undermining the financial stability of the health service in England, the National Audit Office said this week.
Scotland's Finance Minister Andy Kerr has given a stark warning that the forthcoming Spending Review will be much tougher than in recent years and that Scotland should be prepared for a less generous...
Planners, police officers and local politicians alike need to have their skills honed at a new centre of excellence if the government's sustainable development targets are to be met.
