Callendar G, Johnston J
Public Administration and Development, (UK), Feb 97 (17/1)
Start page: 55 No of pages: 16
Discusses the Australian government’s public sector reform initiatives, introduced over the last ten years, in order to achieve national competitive advantage, including downsizing, corporate management and commercialization, based on an economic rationalist-managerialist style of governance. 

The Government has been giving examples of how a people-centred approach has helped the New Deal for Young People include the needs of disabled people to get back into work.
It says that more than 10,000 disabled people have taken advantage of the
Government’s New Deal for Young People since it was launched nationally in April.
Disabled people claiming Jobseekers Allowance can benefit from the New Deal
immediately, without having to be unemployed for six months like other applicants. 

The Government has hailed the announcement of a rolling survey of public views about the NHS as being the tool that will deliver a ’service moulded to the needs of the people.’
From this autumn, 150,000 health service users will be polled for their views in the first annual exercise of its kind. This will be backed by rolling investigations in specific areas of health care, and detailed investigations into particular hospitals and trusts. 

Strategies for the Practitioner
Edwin Nevis (MIT Sloan School of Management, USA) , Joan Lancourt , Helen Vassallo (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA)
Before leaders can influence change, they must understand our fundamental resistance to it. In this book, the authors argue that because an organization is made up of many different perceptions of reality, there is no single method of influence that is powerful enough to transform an organization. 

Vowler J
Computer Weekly, (UK), 23 Apr 1998
Start page: 36 No of pages: 2
Looks at the potential dangers associated with failure to deal effectively with the millennium bug, and considers the contingency planning that should be carried out to minimize the impact of that failure. 

New research which will inform the budget-setting of rural police forces in the future have confirmed one of the idyllic aspects of life in the countryside.
People in rural areas suffer less crime, and are less frightened by the prospect of it.
The report “Rural areas and crime” takes information from the British Crime Survey 1996, and compares findings from rural, urban and inner-city areas. 

More Health Action Zones have been announced - with the task of targeting areas of poor health with new partnership working.
They will serve more than seven million people across England and pour into the targeted areas an extra fifteen million pounds of funding. 

Lessons from Management Gurus for Local Government Managers
Alan Fowler
How far can the thinking of great management ‘gurus’ be applied to the UK’s public sector? How can the busy manager learn something about the practical pros and cons of the management concepts promoted by the likes of Tom Peters, Peter Drucker and Charles Handy? Gurus for Government has been written specifically with these questions in mind. 

BEYOND CIVIL SERVICE.
The Changing Face of Public Personnel Management. 

As councils across the country grapple with the change promised by the Local
Government White Paper, two organisations set up to help councils have got
together to provide updates on pilot schemes already testing out some of the
Government’s proposals.
The Local Government Association and Local Government Management Board have set up the Democracy Network, a database of information and contacts about innovative work. A conference is also planned next March.