With plans for ‘beacon councils’ at an early stage of development, the idea of star performers sharing the recipe for their success with others has been taken up by Health Minister John Denham. The scheme is being introduced because it is claimed that mechanisms are weak in the NHS for spreading best practice and enabling professionals to learn from each other. The aim of the ‘beacon’ scheme is to create learning zones and to reward high standards. 

The 1998 Next Steps Report, just published, reveals that Executive Agencies did well in 1997/98. Performance improved in 52% of cases.
For the future targets may be more difficult to achieve, because performance monitoring has been radically changed with the introduction of Public Service Agreements.