Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles today praised councils that have already signalled they intend to help hard pressed families cope with the cost of living by signing up to the Government's council tax freeze offer

Today UCAS publishes the latest applicant data for entry to full-time undergraduate higher education in 2012. These statistics include all applications considered on time for the 15 January equal-consideration deadline

Changes to streamline the process local councils and the Highways Agency must go through when introducing new traffic restrictions were put forward today by Transport Minister Norman Baker

Age UK’s new Care in Crisis 2012 report shows that this year spending on older people’s social care in England has fallen half a billion pounds short of even maintaining the inadequate levels of provision in place when the Coalition came to power

The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee calls on Government to pursue cross-party reform of party funding, before another "scandal intervenes"

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that as many as 300 frontline staff at NHS Direct could lose their jobs. The organisation plans to introduce new roster arrangements to cut costs as they begin  moving towards the new NHS 111 services, due to be rolled out through this year and next

Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on the announcement that the chief executive of RBS will receive a bonus worth £963,000, said

The first systematic review of the real impact of public spending cuts on local authorities is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation today. It finds that the most deprived local authorities have been hardest hit by the cuts. It also finds conflict within local authorities over whether the needs of vulnerable people should be prioritised

79 per cent of Britons want increased innovation to improve quality of life in older age, according to new findings released today by the UK’s innovation agency, The Technology Strategy Board

The UK is set to be amongst the best prepared nations for the implications of climate change following publication of a groundbreaking study into the threats the country faces

The Government's  decision to set a unilateral Carbon Price Floor could have a "devastating effect" on UK industry and will artificially raise electricity prices for consumers, while having no overall impact on emissions – MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee have warned

Sentiment among UK manufacturers deteriorated in the past three months, as confidence was hit by stagnant output, falling demand and concerns over exports, the CBI said today

Today the Court of Appeal rejected Government attempts to overturn last month's High Court ruling that its botched solar plans were illegal

The estimated cost of illiteracy to the UK economy is £81.312 billion each year, according to a preliminary report just released by the World Literacy Foundation