The shape of the future Greater London Authority became a little clearer with the recommendations from the Local Government Commission (LGC) for what should make up the fourteen constituencies of the new assembly.The LGC’s recommendations reflect the ruling by the Government, that there should be 14 constituencies, each made up of combinations of 2 or more whole London Boroughs. The Commission was also asked to ensure that each constituency should cater for broadly equal numbers of voters. 

New powers allowing the police to pick up truants and take them back to school come into effect today.The powers under section 16 of the Crime and Disorder Act aim to see the Government fulfil its promise of tackling youth crime and stopping offending behaviour early.
Police constables will now be able to return children to school or other place designated by the local authority, if they believe the child is of school age and absent without authority. 

By Noorzaman RashidWith the new local government environment increasingly demanding quality, value for money and social justice, the old ways of ad hoc performance assessment have become irrelevant. Local government managers are forced to adopt a more coherent and holistic approach. This book presents a new framework for performance management that embraces a wide range of management styles. It draws on experiences of leading-edge managers across the public, private and community sectors.