Intergovernmental accession conferences at ministerial level are to be held with Turkey and Croatia on Monday 21 December in Brussels as part of the EU enlargement process. The meetings will be chaired by Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt.

Chancellor Alistair Darling's pre-budget report calling for public sector organisations to cut IT spend by £500m by 2012-13 will be difficult to achieve as many still use disparate IT systems, according to Simon Etherington, UK General Manager of content, collaboration

The EU telecoms reform brings about consumer choice, a new dose of competition, an effective European system of independent telecoms regulators, new investment into competitive infrastructures, more space for new wireless services and a more open Internet for all citizens.

Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, today put forward a plan to ensure that Greece will put in place the systems necessary to allow EU aid payments to be made to farmers. Greece has informed the

New EU telecoms rules will officially become EU law tomorrow following their publication in today's Official Journal of the European Union. The new rules composed of the Better Regulation Directive and the Citizens' Rights Directive will need to be transposed

Parliament on Thursday adopted the final EU budget for 2010, which will be €141.4 billion in commitments and €122.9 billion in payments. The main challenge for this year's budget was to find the funding for the already agreed but not

Councils will be able to use online advertising as an alternative to newspapers under plans published today.

The Scottish Government has dropped plans to bring in new legislation which could have led to charities acting as 'market operators' having to apply for a licence.

A strategy aimed at strengthening Scotland's place at the forefront of international medical research was published by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon yesterday.

The Scottish Government and the farming industry have united behind the need for an acceptable deal on devolving animal health and welfare funding.

The refreshed Compact has today been launched by the Compact partnership consisting of the Office of the Third Sector, Compact Voice and the Commission for the Compact.

Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo and Public Health Minister, Gillian Merron today welcomed the publication of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group's sixth annual report and will be responding to all the recommendations next year.

A new strategy to improve access to high quality services for patients with lymphoedema has been announced by Health Minister, Edwina Hart.

Education Minister Leighton Andrew has welcomed £471,000 from the Future Jobs Fund to create 71 jobs in Wales.

The Local Government Minister lays out the importance of revitalising local economies to take Britain out of recession and urges Whitehall, Town halls and other stakeholders to work together to deliver success for our communities

The Equality and Human Rights Commission with the charity Age Concern and Help the Aged will tonight present a report to Government and shadow ministers outlining recommendations for tackling disadvantage in later life.

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) and the Audit Commission today signalled a fundamental review of the approach to inspections to better target landlords with performance challenges and where tenants may be getting unsatisfactory services from their landlord.

CQC has published a five year plan outlining how it will drive up standards on behalf of people with learning disabilities. This is in direct response to the inpatient follow up review which was also published today.

Parents of special educational needs (SEN) pupils will get more help to get the right educational support for their children, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announced today.

Young people across the country stand to benefit from £31million of Government investment in world class youth facilities, announced today by Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo.