The national green belt policy should be swept away and decisions over planning permission left entirely in the hands of local communities, according to Policy Exchange.
Work across 200 public bodies could be affected by next week's strike by civil servants, but ministers are standing firm over the Whitehall reform agenda that has fuelled staff anger.
Councils with social care responsibilities are anticipating increasing council tax by an average of just 3.6% in 2007/08 a 1% drop on last year despite claiming a funding 'crisis' for adult care...
Council tax bills in Scotland have risen by an average of nearly 60% in cash terms over the past ten years, a local government finance report has revealed.
Treasury ministers will continue to monitor closely the cost of the Olympic Games, but have not committed themselves to covering unaccounted rises, officials confirmed this week.
Are decades of planning laws about to be reversed in a free-for-all that will carpet England's green belts with out-of-town megastores? Peter Hetherington weighs up the evidence on the Barker review
Who would have thought it? NHS Resource Accounting and Budgeting has suddenly got the media excited. And there's plenty more fancy footwork where that came from. Andy McKeon explains how the Rab...
A controversial Scottish Executive report showing that Scotland has an £11.2bn funding 'black hole' might have contained an error over the level of public spending, chief economist Andrew Goudie...
A new multi-billion pound agency will take charge of housing and regeneration in England within the next two years, the government confirmed this week.
Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred has denied he is disappointed that the Department of Health declined his advice to repay financial penalties levied against overspending hospitals.
The social care inspectorate has called for an urgent national debate into whether or not the state should continue to provide preventative social care to disabled and frail adults.
Supporters say social enterprises marry private efficiency with public values, offering innovative low-cost, high-quality services. But a wider definition of value for money is needed to get the best...
Public Service Agreements were meant to keep track of what departments do with taxpayers' money. The problem is that no-one, least of all MPs, pays them much attention. Colin Talbot and Carole...
Happy New Year. If you are an adult with a disability you now have two years left to receive preventative social care that could stop your condition deteriorating further, the Local Government...
The Scottish Executive is on track to achieve 97% of the pledges it made when a partnership agreement was drawn up between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, First Minister Jack McConnell has claimed.
The government's efficiency programme appeared to have an admirable aim until it turned out to be a crude job-cutting exercise. But managers are ready to find real efficiencies, if only ministers...
With a Brown premiership predicted for any time soon, all bets are off as to what it will mean for one of Blair's most cherished 'legacy' issues public service reform. Tony Travers hacks through a...
Scotland spends £11.2bn more than it gathers from taxes, according to the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland report, published this week by the Scottish Executive.
A government scheme that encourages tenants to buy shares in their homes must be made more flexible if the take-up is going to improve, says a new report.
Business rates need to be brought urgently back under local government control, argues Paul Raynes. The current system is inefficient, keeps councils in bondage, involves huge, unnecessary financial...
