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The article examines issues affecting the National Health Service (NHS) in Great Britain. It discusses the protest of demonstrators, including former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, against the threatened closure of the Whittington Hospital's accident and emergency unit following the government's efforts in reducing deficits through freezing the funding for NHS. Moreover, it notes that the political pressure over NHS funding is expected to soar as the upcoming election approaches.

The article discusses the Icelandic saga that prompted investigations into local authority investment by the Audit Commission and the Commons communities in Great Britain. David Mander of the Department of Treasury's Debt Management Office (DMO) notes the increase in use of their debt management account deposit facility. Local Government Association (LGA) director of finance and performance Stephen Jones believes councils have not used their collective weight with the finance house.

The article discusses the issues concerning the privitisation of the Royal Mail in Great Britain. It highlights the Postal Services Bill which was introduced by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, which stirred up political storm and rebellion of the Members of the Parliament and the public. It examines the impact of the proposed plan and identify the motives of the government behind its decision to partly-privitise the local postal service.

The article discusses issues concerning Great Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown's idea of implementing personalized public services. According to the author, personalized services focus on standards, targets and private-sector provisions. He mentions that personalized services signal a potential transformation of the welfare state. He adds that concrete initiatives of the plan include personal tutors and a personal health check for everyone in the National Health Service (NHS).

The article discusses efforts to increase private-sector involvement in improving school standards and the quality of education in Great Britain in 2006. The British government is promoting closer links between existing state and private schools and is seeking to increase private-sector activity in the state school sector.

The article comments on the legacy Gordon Brown, the longest-serving Labor Chancellor in Great Britain. It highlights Browns' contributions to social policy, such as the Sure Start initiative, tax credits, and baby bonds. The article also comments on the contributions made by Brown to the economic development of the country.

The article presents the authors perspective about public service provisions in Great Britain. According to the author, the government's plans for reform of public services have long been controversial. A crucial question is whether and to what extent public services should be further opened up to a diversity of providers. Many Britain's have agenda that goes way beyond this point. The charities' argues that they have the expertise and flexibility to deliver cost-effective but also innovative services.

The article examines the threat of closure for up to 80 cottage hospitals in England. One of this hospitals is the Walnuttree Hospital in Sudbury. As the National Health Services (NHS) find ways to cover this crisis, the threatened closure leads to the retirement of NHS chief executive, Nigel Crisp.

The article reports on the refusal by Chancellor Alistair Darling to set out the spending plans of Great Britain beyond 2010-2011 in his Pre-Budget Report on December 2009. Darling said that to try and fix each department's budget for the next five years, is neither necessary or sensible. However, he did pledge to protect 95% of National Health Service (NHS) spending for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 and the education funding and spending.

The article reports on the submission of amendments by ministers to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill in an effort to rescue the concept of mutual insurance funds in Great Britain. Rosie Winterton, a local government minister, notes that amendments were aimed to ensure schemes could go ahead in future in Best Value authorities. Chris Leslie, director of the New Local Government Network, mentions that the step asserts the permissive powers needed by councils.

The article reports on the reaction of labor unions to the plan of Doncaster, England Mayor Peter Davies to cut council tax by three percent. According to labor unions, such plan would put public services at risk particularly children's services at schools. It notes that councilors are asking for clarification on Davies' policies on costs reduction. However, a council spokeswoman explains that reduction of council tax is an inspiration.

The article reports on the leaked budget projections for 2013 and 2014 by the Treasury in Great Britain. Along with declarations of reducing grants, the figures imply that the British government is making public finance cuts. The documents, which were written during the earlier months of 2009, also reveal that the Whitehall Palace would be much lesser than previously predicted by economists.

The article reports on the call of the leaders of Labour and Liberal Democrat (LibDem) local authorities for councils on not to walk out of the national pay bargaining system in England. The Local Government Employers has made a pay offer of one percent with a package that includes an extra day's holiday and an additional 0.25% for the lowest paid staff. Richard Kemp, leader of the Local Government Association's LibDem, says that lobbying such system stokes up trouble for individual councils.

The article reports on the speculation of several experts on the16% reduction of the military spending in Great Britain. This is reported to be rooted from the suggestion of Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to the Labour Party to seek protection of its spending areas. It is also noted that the records in the public debts under the Office for National Statistics have aggravated the political rivalry between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.

The article reports on the demand for a Parliamentary debate on spending reviews and pre-budget reports by the members of Parliament (MP) committee as public spending escalates in Great Britain. The committee believes that there is still improvement to a system which fails to execute efficiently its stewardship of public resources. Moreover, the interest of holding a spending review is stoked up when Business Secretary Peter Mandelson did not allow it to happen before the election.

The article reports that the members of Parliament have blamed local authorities and the Audit Commission for the failed Icelandic bank investments in Great Britain in 2009. It states that the failure was because of inadequate treasury management policies and a low level of staff expertise and scrutiny. It notes that after the Icelandic banks collapsed, about 1 billion pound of authority money was frozen.

The article focuses on the 30-year agreement deal signed by the Highways Agency with Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to widen the M25 motorway without a Treasury bail-out in London, England. Transport minister Andrew Adonis emphasizes the goals of the widening schemes to improve journey time reliability and safety, reduce congestion and bring benefits to road users. An agency's spokesman admits that the rising cost of financing was due to the increased of margins paid to the banks.

The article focuses on the public sector's financial management condition in Great Britain. Chancellor Alistair Darling has rendered his statement regarding the weakening of the budget. In addition, he cites the slumping of the country's gross domestic product for about 1% and the acceleration of debts and the need for financial assistance. Moreover, the impact of the global economic recession to various businesses in the country is also highlighted.

The article reports on the £47 billion spending squeeze facing the public sector in Great Britain. It notes that the British cabinet minister for finance has also eliminated a total of £15.5 billion off investment spending on capital projects. Moreover, it mentions that the £5 billion extra efficiency savings would be taken out from public services and returned it to the Department of Treasury.

The article presents the authorities which are shamed by the British Audit Commission which constitute to the collapse of the Icelandic banks. The authorities include Kent County Council and the London Borough of Havering. Steve Bundred, Audit Commission chief executive, states that the authorities are dubbed negligent because the investment, which was made on October 1, 2008, was widely known to bear high risk for institutions.

The article reports on the call of the Conservative Party to rescue the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) using government funds in Great Britain. Treasury secretary Philip Hammond points out the risks of lending public funds to PFI contractors. It is speculated that the government will establish an infrastructure fund or underwrite bank loans to help the contractors.

The article elaborates on the delay of the publication of the National Health Services' (NHS) new treatment tariff in Great Britain. The Department of Health postponed the publication after health bodies expressed their concerns about its operation during testing. Health leaders and finance chiefs of the NHS discovered and warned that the lack of transparency of the proposed tariff made it difficult to calculate the income levels and to trace the outcomes of spending within hospital trusts.

The article focuses on the Institute for Fiscal Studies' (IFS) warning that public services will face a three-year real-terms spending freeze from 2010 in Great Britain. This could be attributed to the attempt of the government to get its finances back on track. The IFS provides a gloomy evaluation of the long-term state of the public finances. It expects the government need tax increases or spending cuts worth an extra £20 billion annually by the end of the next Parliament.

The article discusses the impact of economic recession on the quality of public services in Great Britain. It notes that despite the decrease in net taxes and national insurance contributions, the demand for public services, particularly in the homelessness and criminal justice areas, could increase. Mike Turley, head of Deloitte's public sector practice, declared that the rising demand could lead to constraints in revenue and income at a national and local level.

The article reports on the plan of Chancellor Alistair Darling to adopt the Keynesian economics to increase public spending and borrowing in a bid to lift the economy in Great Britain. It states that this issue has stirred controversy as Opposition politicians attacked the government over the national debt. Moreover, economic experts analyzes that Darling's endorsement of Keynesian economics could mean greater tax rises in the long term.

The article reports on the delay of the Private Finance Initiative contract to repair and manage highways in Birmingham, England due to contract funding.

The article reports on the rush local health changes feared by the National Health Services (NHS) in Great Britain. It notes that the rush plans of NHS to meet tight government deadlines could unravel the reorganization of community health services. Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards notes that the PCTs' plans may have numerous significant risks.

The article discusses the declaration of Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in Great Britain that it will take some time to fix the information technology systems that left the 1.6 billion pound Single Payments Scheme to farmers who were caught up in the 2005 crisis. It states that the Commons Public Accounts Committee frequently evaluated the RPA since the disaster left the farmers penniless. It notes that the department already spent 119 million pounds.

The article discusses the endorsement of Chancellor Alistair Darling on the report of former chief executive Ian Smith of Reed Elsevier PLC to transfer 15,000 civil service jobs out of London, England in the next five years. He further said that transferring 1,000 posts from the Ministry of Justice would save 1 million pound. It states that PCS union leader Mark Serwotka stressed that civil servants should not be forced to transfer without relocation and consent of workers.

The article reports on the urge for the ministers to publish the liabilities under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) with the public sector debt statistics in Great Britain.

The article reports on the rejection of the government to take actions in handling the budget deficit in Great Britain.

The article reports on the move of the British Home Office to request for extra funds from the Parliament after failing to appropriate enough to cover the possibility of losing a court case against police pensions. The Home Office was afflicted by 130 million euros for back payments owed to police pensioners. It had backdated its application of new pension calculations wherein the Police Federation won a ruling in March 2009.

The article presents forecasts from economists on Great Britain's budget as Chancellor Alistair Darling puts his proposals to Parliament on March 24, 2010. Robert Chote, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, stated that the budget will more likely to include details of the expected amount of worth of efficiencies. On the other hand, Prime Minister Gordon Brown emphasized that freezing senior managers' pay would save more than three billion euros by 2013/2014.

The article announces the report entitled "Escaping the Poverty Trap," by Policy Exchange recommending the British government to restrict child benefits for fortunate families and increase benefits to save 6.5 billion euros to improve poor incentives for long-term unemployed people.

The article reports on the allegations raised by the British Public Accounts Committee (PAC) against Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Chairman Trevor Phillips concerning its series of replacement of equality bodies in October 2007. An investigation has been called for Phillips, who was suspected to have attempted to influence PAC members' views before publication of their report on EHRC's 2006/2008 accounts. The statement of PAC Chairman Edward Leigh concerning the issue is offered.

The article reports that the information technology (IT) system failure at the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC) has driven large amount of cost for clerical administration of CMEC cases.

The article focuses on the fear among hospital trusts that they could lose 7% of their income due to changes in the treatments tariff of the National Health Service (NHS) in Great Britain.

The article reports that stronger management of national health service (NHS) trusts has shown better clinical results based on the study conducted by the London School of Economics. It states that hospital management has improved when senior staff has clinical backgrounds and could effectively communicate with medical and nursing staff, and there was a competition from neighbouring NHS trusts. It says that the competitive labour market has an impact to improve managerial quality in hospitals.

The article reports on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) waste scheme, which focuses on a controversial incinerator that has been denied by the Cornwall Council in England. It says that the council should continue its deal with contractor Sita and was told that if it denied the PFI scheme on no-fault basis, it would cost 35-50 million pounds and another tax cost will be added. It suggests that a single energy-from-waste plant is the best technical and financial solution of Cornwall Council.

The article reports on the job cuts planned by National Health Service (NHS) trusts due to the squeeze in the health service spending in Great Britain. It is stated that the Leicester University Hospitals NHS Trust reacted to the budget cuts by imposing job vacancy freeze. According to Leicester chief executive Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, they need to control costs to prepare for the lack of funding increase in 2011. It also mentions the funding increase among primary care trusts (PCTs).

The article reports on the fixed bill faced by the public sector in Great Britain for the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The Ministry of Defence announced Soteria, a consortium of CHC Helicopter Inc., Sikorky Aircraft Corp. and the Royal Bank of Scotland, to provide a national search and rescue helicopter service. According to PFI expert Mark Hellowell, facilities management is part of the unitary charge. The Treasury figures of the total capital value of the scheme is also included.

The article reports on the refusal of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to allow Members of Parliament (MPs) to debate a series of reform measures which is aimed at giving the Parliament more power in Great Britain.

The article reports on the move of Warwickshire police authority to challenge the capping laws for the 2010-2011 budget in England.

The article discusses the statement of David Nicholson, chief executive officer (CEO) at the National Health Service, that Government need to tighten its efficiency savings by 2012/2013.

The article discusses the move by the Better Government Initiative to call for increased parliamentary scrutiny of the National Audit Office regarding the budget and government fiscal policy in Great Britain.

The article discusses the report published by the Society of Information Technology Management entitled "IT Trends 2010: Stretched to Breaking Point," which says that the plummeting levels of investment in information technology (IT) will threaten the government's efficiency drive in Great Britain.

The article reports on the struggle of National Health Service (NHS) organisations in drawing up plans for finance, contracted activity and the future shape of community services to meet severe deadlines imposed by the British Department of Health. According to Chris Calkin, spokesman for the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the deadline for contracts between trusts and primary trust is a big concern. The NHS Operating Framework states that contracts must be agreed by March 1, 2010.

The article reports that five private companies are planning to take over the debt-ridden Hinchingbrooke Health Care National Health Service (NHS) Trust, with one being rated from within the health service in Cambridgeshire, England. It mentions that the facility has a 38 million pound debt which made other potential bidders to think about purchasing it again. It affirms that among the companies which joined the foundation trust include Interhealth Canada, Secro Health and Ramsay Health Care UK.

The article reports on the plan by the Surrey Police Authority to relocate officers to public buildings in Surrey, England. It features the statement by Surrey Police Authority chair Peter Williams on the financial and economic conditions which led to the office to do cost-effective measure proposed by Surrey chief constable Mark Rowley. It also notes the foreword in the white paper by British Home Secretary Alan Johnson in which he stressed the need for government to do such measures.

The article reports on the plan of the government of Great Britain to streamline the funding of public services in the country. It also reports on the plans outlined in the proposals by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne to restructure the funding of local services. Moreover, it features the criticism by shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond on how the Labour Party had handled the public spending.