The National Audit Office should be granted greater powers to inspect private companies undertaking public sector contracts, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, David Davis MP, said last...
League tables could be introduced across the criminal justice system after a critical National Audit Office study found up to £84m could be saved by eliminating waste and spreading good practice.
A rise of 7% has been forecast in council tax almost three times the rate of inflation in the next financial year, with householders facing an average £56 increase in their bills.
Directly elected mayors for major cities in England and Wales could be in place as early as spring 2001 as the government this week signalled it wanted to speed legislation through parliament.
The Treasury is to more than double the number of cross-government spending programmes but has played down claims that this is an assault on the financial independence of individual Whitehall...
The new team to promote the Private Finance Initiative will help councils overcome any skill shortages that may stop them pressing ahead with schemes, finance directors have been told.
The government will put local government political reorganisation on the fast track next week when it publishes the bill that will pave the way for directly elected mayors.
Home Secretary Jack Straw has been forced to go back to the drawing board after it emerged that his draft Freedom of Information Bill contravened international agreements on the environment.
Short-termism and vague targets set by councils are hampering innovative work on regeneration and economic development, the Audit Commission warned this week.
A new standardised service for testing the satisfaction of tenants living in council and housing association properties was launched this week by the National Housing Federation.
Hilary Armstrong will rule out, for the time being, directly elected chambers for the newly formed regional development agencies (RDAs). This reflects the prime minister's view on the issue.
Alnwick District Council is facing a £5m compensation claim from supermarket giant Safeway after the High Court upheld Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's decision to scrap an out-of-town shopping...
In another age, there were people known as Kremlinologists. These experts would be wheeled out on British television and radio to discuss the significance of every minor change in personnel made to...
Council leaders in Burnley are in urgent talks with the government over how to clear their housing debt ahead of the proposed transfer of the authority's entire stock to a housing association.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has confirmed that local authorities will be able to introduce congestion charges, with the revenue ring-fenced for local transport schemes.
Local Education Authorities found themselves in the government's sights again this week when Prime Minister Tony Blair stepped up the attack on spending on schools.
Changes to Britain's phone system which could end up costing councils hundreds of thousands of pounds were met this week with a collective shrug of the shoulders from the public sector.
The NHS is wasting up to £50m a year on private health care for mentally ill patients after closing nearly 10,000 psychiatric beds, health watchdog London Emergency Health has claimed. In a report...
