The NHS has set a target of saving 3% each year on the goods and services it buys in. Following a Cabinet Office review which recommends ways to increase efficiency and quality across the service, a plan has been produced to modernise and improve the way procurement is managed.
The NHS spends some 7 billion pounds a year on procurement and to ensure that money is well spent all NHS Trusts are being required to bring the quality of their purchasing up to that of the best. 

The first four ‘ONE’ one stop job and benefit shops have been launched. The one stop shop was originally known as the Single Work-Focused Gateway. ONE brings together staff from Employment Service, the Benefits Agency and local councils. They provide a streamlined job seeking and benefits service. Every case will be dealt with by a single adviser. Traditionally those who loose their job have to visit three or four places. 

The Needs of Local Authority Chief Executives
By Roger Morris.
The role of modern chief executives in local government is at the boundaries of unprecedented change, pressure and challenge. Old certainties cannot be relied on. This book provides a personal and practical framework for many dilemmas and experiences faced by the chief executive. It details methods to find support and guidance and maintain self-development. It is topical, comprehensive and wide ranging. 

Electronic commerce has the potential to be one of the great economic developments of the 21st Century, spurring growth and employment throughout the world. It is set to revolutionising the commercial world, offering greater choice to consumers, and greater access to markets for suppliers. Public sector organisations are taking up lead positions in this move to the new form of trading. 

A partnership of Employment Service, Manpower PLC and Ernst & Young has been set up to bid for management of Employment Zones due to be launched in April 2000. Bids will be invited later this year from public, private and voluntary organisations.
The partnership brings together a range of skills and experience. Employment Service, an Executive Agency of the Department for Education and Employment runs 1000 job centres. 

In a move to boost the number of ethnic monorities in the civil service a Careers Fair for graduates is to be held in London on 7 July 1999. Only 1.6 per cent of staff from ethnic minority communities are at the senior level and the target is to raise the figure to 3.2% by 2004/05.
The Fair will be opened by Cabinet Secretary Sir Richard Wilson and Sir John Kerr, Head of the Diplomatic Service. Recruitment procedures will be explained to the 2000 or so people who are expected to attend. 

Partnership working involving public and voluntary sector bodies is delivering results through the Better Government for Older People programme. The programme is being sponsored and steered by a partnership between six organisations which reflect the main stakeholders involved in developing local strategies for an ageing population.
Work is being spearheaded by 28 local authorities who are leading pilot projects, but in all some 300 organisations are involved. 

Juico P E
The Asian Manager, (Phillipines), Sep-Oct 1998 Vol 11 No 5
Start page: 11. No of pages: 2
Discusses the task of managing public resources in an environment of scarcity and under a critical public gaze, where the concern is with accountability and productivity. 

Eight NHS Trusts have been given Beacon status to spread best practice in treating cancer patients. They have been chosen because they demonstrate exceptional examples of a quality service that could be taken up elsewhere. They are also representative of the different types of cancer treatment.
NHS Beacons have also been established to encourage good practice in improving waiting lists and times, primary care, mental health, health improvement and staff development. 

Education Minister David Blunkett’s charge that some local councils are failing to spend enough education funding on schools has brought a robust response. Local Education Authorities deny that money for frontline education is being spent on red tape in the town hall. The Minister remains adamant that the figures in the league table of education spending produced by his department have been carefully checked by officials.