What has a philosophy designed to revolutionise car production got to do with the public sector? Well, quite a lot, it turns out. Zoe Radnor and Paul Walley explain how 'lean thinking' is crossing...
Public sector trade unions this week attacked Chancellor Gordon Brown's proposed four-year pay freeze for 6 million staff, claiming that many people could face real-term cuts until 2011.
This week's call for means-tested charges for NHS services is wrong-headed. Such a move would raise few funds, deter the wrong people from using health care, and undermine the consensus that backs...
It seems that time is running out for the big regeneration programmes. But, despite government rhetoric about 'mainstreaming', practitioners fear that their resources might not transfer into the...
Social landlords have welcomed plans for a national strategy to support vulnerable people, but are continuing to demand firmer assurances over funding.
Every household in Britain is losing around £180 per year because of fraud and error in the government's benefit and tax credits systems, figures released by Opposition MPs this week suggest.
Sure Start, tax credits, baby bonds. Gordon Brown has not been idle on the social policy front while he waits for his chance at the premiership. But what kind of legacy will the longest-serving...
The Cornwall Partnership NHS trust has been placed under 'special measures' following a watchdog report revealing 'many years of abusive practices' of adults with learning disabilities.
The tangle of performance indicators and reporting requirements that are throttling local government will be swept away following a wide-ranging review being set up to slash red tape in the sector,...
Families with disabled children, professional carers and MPs have joined forces to influence the Treasury's policy review on children and young people.
A property company that manages homes for local authorities has become the first private firm to apply to the Housing Corporation to be an accredited landlord.
Ministers expect to save £7bn from the overhaul of welfare systems announced this week cash that they believe could be reinvested directly back into services.
For many young vulnerable people, the statutory sector closes its door on them the moment they hit 18. But thanks to new social inclusion projects, this is changing. Nicola Pauling reports
The government is on a new charm offensive with the voluntary sector. But will all the reviews and initiatives allay charities' suspicions that ministers are looking for public services on the cheap...
For the Labour government, charity began and ended at home. Or the Home Office, at least, where its charitable and voluntary sector policy largely gathered dust after 1997.
There is a lull in Westminster, as if everything is waiting for the next PM. For many in the public sector, this represents a welcome rest from a breakneck whirl of reform but not for local...
