& is a problem halved. But not when public bodies can't agree on the best ways to collaborate. Judy Hirst explains why sharing services is so hard to do
Labour's plans for more housing depend on developers paying for the accompanying infrastructure with a new planning gain supplement. But there is opposition to this tax on building, as Mark Smulian...
When the National Audit Office investigated Whitehall's efficiency savings it found that they weren't all they seemed. Some were aspirational, some weren't efficient and others couldn't be proved....
The government's gamble to persuade rebel MPs to back its education reforms by offering concessions over admissions procedures and the role of local authorities might still fail, opponents have told...
Sir David Henshaw, the chief executive behind Liverpool City Council's renaissance as a high-performing local authority, has been recruited by Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton to lead a review...
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton this week warned that a rise in the basic state pension age is 'inevitable' the first firm indication that his forthcoming retirement proposals could contain...
The government was this week accused of failing Britain's poorest groups after it emerged that up to £7bn in benefits went unclaimed in 2003/04, while take-up of key welfare payments has fallen since...
Whitehall's under-fire Department for Work and Pensions will be asked to produce an improvement plan this summer after being picked to pilot Sir Gus O'Donnell's capability reviews.
Voluntary organisations can reach parts that monolithic public services can't even get close to. And the government is waking up to their importance in areas such as employment services and welfare...
Local government minister and political wunderkind David Miliband has been tipped as a potential Labour prime minister. Vivienne Russell meets a minister who is very much on the move
This week's health and social care white paper promises joint working and preventive care in the community. But NHS deficits and social service cutbacks mean the trends are pointing the other way....
Whitehall's biggest department was this week described as 'in crisis', following claims that its huge efficiency drive has left two-thirds of benefit payments delayed, services rife with IT problems...
Benefits claimants are being frustrated and confused because Department for Work and Pensions leaflets are written in 'gobbledegook', Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh said this week.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton could reinvest £4bn £7bn per year into the welfare system through savings and new tax income gleaned by reducing benefit claimants by 1 million - a target...
The European Commission has described as 'artificial' the government's rationale for removing the right of some local government workers to claim full pension benefits at 60.
The trade union representing nuclear industry civil servants has urged ministers to focus on staff skills and safety in any future plans to privatise decommissioning.
First it was in, then it was out, now it's 'in-sourced'. Croydon council believes it has found the best way to run its benefits service. Nathan Elvery explains
Tory leader David Cameron has hit the ground running, ditching old party certainties for the centre ground. But how much substance is there? Philip Johnston has his doubts
Five mental health trusts could be awarded foundation status in April, even though the Department of Health has yet to finalise how they will operate the payment by results funding system.
Senior staff responsible for IT at Whitehall's largest department have claimed that the days of introducing risky 'big bang' technologies are over, but say that they are on course to provide complex...
Once again there is a conflict between the government's policy intentions and the law. This time it affects one of the main planks of its local reforms: Local Area Agreements. But there is solution
Opposition MPs have called for an 'urgent and independent' investigation into the alleged failure of the tax credits system to deal adequately with fraud.
Senior staff at the Department for Work and Pensions have outlined four key funding streams they expect will pay for the radical welfare reform proposals due to be unveiled by Work and Pensions...
