Cutting bureaucracy and streamlining service delivery were key themes discussed by Ministers and council leaders at a meeting of the Central – Local Partnership. They agreed on plans to work together to make services much more convenient and accessible – so that, for example, people can deal with Government in one place rather than a succession of offices all over town.Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said: “There are already areas where central and local government are working together to improve their services for the citizen and businesses, for example Access Business. We want to build on this type of work, and other similar initiatives by the Local Government Association. People need easy access. They want to know what their government is up to. We have agreed today how we go forward on both fronts.

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The King’s Fund and the British Medical Journal have opened the debate on health care rationing in advance of the White Paper setting out the Government’s proposals.The ideas and principles of fair rationing are described in their new publication – Rationing: Talk and Action in Health Care. It contains articles from leading rationing experts and it destroys the myth that there is no rationing in the NHS. Robert Maxwell, chief executive of the King’s Fund said: “Rationing has always taken place in the NHS, but it has been consistently denied by the Government. We hope that the White Paper to be published shortly will set out their intentions.

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