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.
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. Suggests that while the public protection
target for the police can be defined as improving detection or reducing the
occurrence of certain crimes, the probation service, operating after the
event, would find difficulty with such a proactive target and has to aim at
reducing future risk in the form re-offending. Considers how the probation
service can work with the police in identifying potentially dangerous
offenders (PDOs) but points out that sharing of such information between
agencies would pose a problem of confidentiality for the probation service.
Comments on multi-agency PDO conferencing, jointly devised and run by the
police and the probation service aimed at protecting the public from harm
by sharing information; identifying risk and ways of managing it; and
planning and co-ordinating the work of the respective agencies. Relates the
views of both the police and the probation service on the value of such an
initiative.