Archives for September 11th, 1998

MASTERS FOR ALL TRADES

Abstracts, PublicNet: 11 September, 1998

Ewen S

Public Finance, (UK), 29 May 1998. Start page: 18 No of pages: 3 Describes the United Kingdom MBA courses available to public sector employees, and the proportion receiving financial sponsorship. Discusses the merits of broad and specialist MBAs, suggesting that broad awareness is very important for accountants who need to learn how to manage change. Reports private sector interest in staff with public sector experience and qualifications as partnership develops between the two. Provides a counter-argument, that the public sector ethos deserves its own specialist MBA.

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COLLABORATION IS KEY TO IMPROVING HEALTH

Headlines, PublicNet: 11 September, 1998

Special emphasis has been placed on joint working between the health service, local government, business and the voluntary sector, in the annual report of the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Kenneth Calman. Sir Kenneth said: “The key to the implementation of many improvements to the environment and health is through action at a local level, and much is already being done through ‘Local Agenda 21’ -a comprehensive action plan for sustainable development into the 21st Century.”This aims to bring together local government, business, voluntary and community sectors to identify what their local communities want and need, and then to co-ordinate delivery by means of local resources, taking account of local interests. Their activities often deliver health benefits as well as environmental ones, and involvement in the partnerships and planning stimulates the development of a healthier community.”The resources and the will needed to maintain and improve environmental health should not be underestimated, and can only be achieved by collaboration – individually, locally, nationally and internationally. On the State of Public Health 1997 costs eighteen pounds 50 pence from The Stationery Office. An executive summary is available on the web at www.open.gov/doh/new.htm

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‘NO SLACKING’ WARNING ON MILLENNIUM BUG

Headlines, PublicNet: 11 September, 1998

Public sector organisations which fail to meet deadlines to tackle the Millennium bug can expect to be tackled by the Government.In her latest quarterly report to Parliament, Margaret Beckett, who chairs the Cabinet Committee responsible for co-ordinating action on the Millennium Bug, points to business and Government working openly together as a key factor in progress so far.As well as Government departments, government agencies such as the NHS and local government are seeing their progress monitored. The BBC, Civil Aviation Authority, Bank of England and Post Office are also contributing to the monitoring process.The turn of the century is expected to confuse older computers and computer-driven equipment not designed to recognise a four character change.Mrs Beckett said: “The latest returns show that good progress is being made by departments and agencies in tackling the bug. More than half of departments and agencies report that 50% or more of the necessary correction work on business critical systems has already been completed and in a fifth of cases this figure is as high as 90%.”However, there has also been some slippage in a number of target dates for completing compliance work since the last review and a number of the target dates remain close to the end of 1999. The returns also show that greater focus needs to be given to embedded and telecommunication systems and contingency planning needs. I am raising these issues with colleagues and will continue to chase progress.”Information on how different groups are working on the bug are published on theGovernment’s Year 2000 website: www.open.gov.uk/year2000.

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