Cabinet Office Minister Jack Cunningham has launched the programme for modernising government. The White Paper sets out a vision for transforming the way government works for people and a programme for achieving the transformation.
The aims of the programme are to ensure that policy making is more joined up and strategic, to focus services more closely on people’s lives and to deliver high quality and efficient services.
People are exercising choice and demanding higher quality services. 

Research by London University has established a clear link between good schools and effective governing bodies. Schools benefit when the governors are committed, show a professional attitude and enjoy the support of the head teacher.
The researchers found that the more effective governors operate as a team and develop positive working relationships with the school staff. They also found that there is a need for induction training and for on going support. 

New powers to be introduced on 1 April 1999 will make persistent and serious anti social behaviour a criminal offence. The new provisions, which are part of the 1998 Criminal Justice Act, will be used to deter determined trouble makers who can terrorise streets and housing estates. 

Proposals for reform of local government structures have been published in
the draft Bill ‘Local Leadership, Local Choice’. The Bill contains a
framework with three options for restructuring councils with provision for
local people to say what shape they wish their council to take. The three
models are: directly elected mayor with a cabinet; a cabinet with a leader
and a directly elected mayor with a council manager. 

The Modernising Government White Paper promised for Autumn 1997 will be
published tomorrow. The issues it addresses and most of the responses have
been openly discussed by ministers and officials during its gestation and
there are likely to be few surprises.
Cabinet Office Minister Peter Kilfoyle summed up the essence of the vision
for better services as ‘working smarter in a joined up way’. 

Nash M
The International Journal of Public Sector Management, (UK), Vol 11 No 4 98
Start page: 252. No of pages: 10
Examines the feasibility of two UK government services, the police and the
probation service, combining to deliver a jointly identified agenda of
public protection. Looks at the effect of the ethos of new public
management on both services, leading to the establishment of key
performance indicators which have reshaped the aims and directions of all
public sector organizations. 

When a health problem arises six out of ten people don’ t know what to do about it.
This is the finding from a survey by Sheffield University of users of the telephone helpline NHS Direct. The survey found that 40% of people took less urgent action than they intended to do before calling the helpline. Most of these people were given advice on how to look after themselves at home. In 20% of cases callers were advised to take more urgent action than they had intended to do. 

Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling has set a target to reduce benefit fraud by 30%. As with all fraud it is difficulty to be precise about its true extent, but it is estimated that the savings on Income Support over a five year period will amount to one billion pounds. The new strategy Safeguarding Social Security sets out how the Benefits Agency and local authorities will use information technology and other measures to stem the flow of cash out of the system. 

Peters L
Public Administration and Development, (UK), Oct 1998 Vol 18 No 4
Start page: 381. No of pages: 6
Aims to complement existing research into the problems of downsizing the civil service in developing countries by putting the issue into the wider context of public sector management reform. 

Over half the applicants for the Charter Mark in 1998 failed to get the award for excellence in public service. This resulted in much work for the unsuccessful applicants as well as for the Service First Unit which vets applications. The problem is essentially one of communication. Applicants have difficulty in understanding precisely the criteria against which they will be judged and in relating the ‘rules’ to their organisation.