LOCAL authorities are now on course to beat the Year 2000 Millennium Bug, a new report shows.The survey, by the Audit Commission, highlights areas where councils are taking direct action to tackle the bug, which could devastate computer systems throughout the country when the new Millennium arrives.
Local Government Association chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham said: `It is every council’s responsibility to make sure that this problem is dealt with. 

The Health Minister Alan Milburn has announced a three year freeze on change to the funding formulas of health authorities and primary care groups while the method of funding is reviewed.Under cover of the funding programme announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, which gives health providers some certainty about their forthcoming budgets, work will take place to find a fairer formula for funding the future NHS.