Government ministers have been criticised of failing to demonstrate strong leadership in encouraging partnership working across traditional public sector boundaries.
Although much Government thinking is aimed at bridging the cultural divide between the health service and central and local government, ministers themselves have been accused of neglecting to carry this forward through their own actions. 

Alan Lawton
Open University Business School.
This is an accessible introduction to the role of ethics in public services management. It is written for new and experienced managers, undergraduate and postgraduate students of the public services. 

Discourse strategies for dealing with conflict in participative decision making.
Yeung L N T
Journal of Applied Management Studies, (UK), Jun 97 (6/1)
Start page: 63 No of pages: 13
Examines the extent to which managers adopt conflict-handling strategies during participative decision-making meetings with their subordinates. 

The Government has hailed new statistics on the type of people holding appointments on NHS trusts and authorities as evidence that it is making the service more representative of the communities it serves.
The numbers of women, members of ethnic minorities, NHS users, carers or voluntary workers and also people local to the area serving on boards of authorities or trusts has risen.
The Government revised criteria for appointments to NHS trust and authority boards in June last year. 

Eastenders star ‘Dot Cotton’ joined representatives from council, health and voluntary services in London for the launch of a pilot scheme to improve services for older people.
Hackney is one of 28 local authorities across the UK taking part in the Government’s Better Government for Older People programme to improve public services by making them more user-friendly, give older people a voice and recognise the contribution they make to society. 

Carol Lupton, Stephen Peckham and Pat Taylor
Social Services Research and Information Unit, University of Portsmouth; Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of Southampton; Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of the West of England.
Public involvement is a key theme within the post-reform NHS, with a growing emphasis on involving people in healthcare decision-making, improving accountability to the public and developing a stronger focus on the consumer or user of services. 

Clarke A, Manton S
Business Process Management Journal, (UK), Vol 3 No 3 97
Start page: 248 No of pages: 8
Explores the use of benchmarking as a methodology for measuring and improving business performance, and outlines a particular benchmarking tool aimed at helping organizations to be more effective in managing the change process. 

STRATEGIC ROLE IN HOUSING
A ‘tenant participation compact’, and a ‘home fitness rating’ are among the new devices to be used by the Government to drive improvement of the country’s housing stock.
The new schemes were revealed by Housing Minister Hilary Armstrong in a speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing, in which she outlined the scope and nature of government interventions in the housing market. 

A new report drawn up in association with all of the key local government associations has called on local authorities to place new technology higher on their agendas.
The new report aims to advise local authorities how best to use relevant information and communication technology, and says these will be key to delivering the government’s modernising agenda. 

Goetz K H
Public Administration, (UK), Winter 97 (75/4)
Start page: 753 No of pages: 23
Sets out the relationship between politicians and officials in Germany and examines how top officials gain the political skills and knowledge needed for promotion to senior positions within the ministerial bureaucracies.