All the main parties are looking to voluntary organisations to deliver more public services. Stuart Etherington warns that the sector will be wanting a lot more in return
Children's needs involve broader issues than exam results and school performance. A new inspection system assesses the way they are dealt with holistically. Shane Flynn looks at the results
Prime Minister Tony Blair will next week launch a new attack on social exclusion, extending help to vulnerable children and adults through existing funding, which could be boosted in this winter's...
New Labour has embraced the world of management consultancy with great enthusiasm. But what has the public sector got back in return? Former management consultant David Craig offers a user-friendly...
The CBI's discussions on public service provision tend to treat the private and voluntary sectors as if they were one and the same. But they are worlds apart in both their motivation and way of...
Contrary to popular opinion, the government has successfully used IT to transform a variety of services, from electronic payment of benefits to the Jobcentre Plus Job Bank. And the transformation...
'Co-production' is the latest big idea buzzing round Whitehall, with the aim of involving citizens more in the design and delivery of local public services. But, as Vivienne Russell discovered, there...
A senior member of the government's Pensions Commission is set to investigate a £350m retirement fund deficit across Britain's railways sector to help prevent national strikes on the network, Public...
The man who made the decision to scrap the troubled Child Support Agency has told Public Finance that the organisation's demise was 'inevitable' because it 'simply was not up to the job' of...
Councils are warning that they are being starved of vital resources to fund basic services because of the government's inability to produce accurate immigration figures.
In these straitened times, it is no surprise that finance directors are looking to make savings on insurance. Many organisations are now planning to ditch traditional insurers for a pooled approach...
Having been quick to judge the rest of the public sector, Whitehall now faces similar scrutiny. And it hasn't fared well. Colin Talbot looks at the impact of capability reviews and applies his own...
Lone parents on income support should be able to keep all the child maintenance they receive under the government's reformed child support system, a former welfare minister has argued.
Anyone who doubted Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell's claim that his Departmental Capability Reviews would be tougher and more honest than many Whitehall stalwarts expected need look no further...
It's been all around the Houses, argued over and amended beyond recognition. And it only managed to get this far with Opposition support. Phil Revell considers the progress of the controversial...
The government's ambition to improve public services is being hindered by Whitehall's 'undoubted failure' to grasp how to deliver services, an expert has told Public Finance .
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.
Whitehall officials must improve the design and operation of the administrative systems underpinning UK services if targeted public sector improvements are to be achieved, influential MPs have warned.
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...
