A powerful budget department similar to the UK Treasury should be set up in Scotland to control the stark spending choices now facing the Salmond administration, a leading think-tank has suggested...
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has said the recession is serving as a ‘catalyst’ for the reform of public services and creating greater need for devolution of power
Is April the cruellest month? By the time Alistair Darling finished his 2009 Budget speech, it was looking a lot nastier than November. The litany of figures the chancellor recited revealed just how...
The government’s push for greater choice and personalisation of public services will be hit by the spending squeeze outlined in the Budget, the chair of a powerful Commons committee has warned
A powerful committee of MPs has warned that ‘unprecedented’ cuts in public services and substantial tax increases might be needed to claw Britain back from its worst fiscal position since the Second...
The government pledged to create a national worklessness forum and launched its Future Jobs Fund following the announcement of the biggest rise in unemployment for almost 30 years
Councils would be better able to protect their communities from the recession if they were allowed to set three-year budgets, a New Local Government Network report has argued
The Welsh Assembly Government should immediately publish information on recent initiatives to support the recession-hit economy and draw up longer-term plans, a committee of AMs has said
Local authorities could recover a substantial amount of the almost £1bn they invested in Iceland’s failed banks, CIPFA’s Local Authority Accounting Panel has revealed
Revenue and Customs has taken action to mitigate the impact of annual peaks and troughs in its workload but can still become more efficient, auditors have found
Economists have warned that the cost of government borrowing could rise after grim public finance figures prompted a credit ratings agency to downgrade its outlook for the UK
The Operational Efficiency Programme puts public services under renewed pressure to save money by rationalising back-office functions. It's a big challenge, and accurate data and strong management...
Public sector pensions are the focus of efficiency plans for all the major political parties. But any change to schemes could have knock-on effects that would be detrimental to short-term and long-...
New Labour has made great play of its shiny new schools, hospitals and transport projects. But, reports Paul Gosling, this great building programme is about to come to a grinding halt as capital...
Almost half of jobless people in Wales are under 25, with the recent rise in unemployment ‘disproportionately’ affecting certain areas of the country, a think-tank has said
The Treasury's Operational Efficiency Programme reads like a Soviet five-year plan; and is probably about as achievable. Tony Travers wades through Whitehall's radical blueprint for public sector...
The Irish economy, feted by Alex Salmond, might end up needing IMF support packages and could be evicted from the eurozone. Now there is a concern that the effects will spread to Northern Ireland
The work and pensions select committee joined the chorus of concern about the government’s flagship Flexible New Deal programme as unemployment figures continue to grow
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has told MPs it is ‘inconceivable’ that the NHS will face real-terms spending cuts from 2011, when the government aims to restore the public finances after...
