People will no longer languish in 'dead-end' jobs, the education secretary promised this week as she unveiled plans to extend skills training across the entire workforce.
An independent audit of NHS progress under Labour has put into perspective emotive headlines about the health service, the NHS Confederation said this week.
The government's election supremo, Alan Milburn, will reveal the full cost to taxpayers of his Cabinet role following an approach from the National Audit Office.
The chancellor is pledged to a surplus of revenues over current spending in any economic cycle. But with the cycle ending in 2005/06 it looks increasingly unlikely that he will be able to achieve...
The Private Finance Initiative has not gone away it's just adapted to meet changing times. Mark Hellowell explores the opportunities and pitfalls in the new areas that the programme is expanding...
Last week's Budget announced more support for university-based research. But will it be enough to save the science departments that are closing across Britain? Stephen Court reports on the parlous...
They've worked wonders in Canada and the US, and now they're over here to do the same. Nick Raynsford explains how local firms can use Business Improvement Districts to help transform their town...
The 'Iron Chancellor' believes he answered the critics who questioned his management of the public finances, but experts have warned his Budget might not prevent post-election tax rises.
Unpublished research by the Conservative party has found that rural and smaller primary schools are resorting to 'drastic measures' to meet the national workload agreement, Tim Collins has told...
Gordon Brown heralded root-and-branch reforms to the regulation of public services as he used his Budget statement to announce plans to slash the number of inspectorates from 11 to four.
The record equal pay settlement at North Cumbria Acute NHS Trust is 'unlikely to be replicated elsewhere', employers have warned, despite Unison this week gearing up for the prospect of similar...
Sir Andrew Turnbull has admitted that the distinction made between back-office and frontline civil servants, one of the initial tenets of the government's £40bn efficiency agenda, 'was a mistake'.
University teachers and lecturers could be facing below-inflation salary increases following a settlement that increases core funding by just 1%, the higher education sector has warned.
Conservative efficiency plans are robust and the full financial burdens of scrapping 168 quangos and laying off 235,000 staff have been built into the party's £35bn savings target, according to...
Scotland's devolved administration has shown how it intends to keep right on to the end of the road and how much the journey is likely to cost Scottish taxpayers.
As the political parties compete for the most radical cuts to red tape before the election, they are turning their magnifying glasses on to regulation and inspection. While a pruning is overdue, it...
The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury is unafraid to speak of huge Whitehall cuts in his plan for better public services. Joseph McHugh heard his battle strategy
Beefing up city and county regions might paradoxically be the most effective way of putting the local into 'new localism' in the twenty-first century, argues Gerry Stoker
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee will ask the National Audit Office to investigate how government departments manage their annual budgets, after it emerged that 20 out of 24 have overspent...
