Schools, governors, parents and the wider community are joining in partnership to raise education standards in Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Literacy Challenge is a major public – private initiative involving the Yorkshire Post; Yorkshire Television; Yorkshire Water; Business in the Community and the supermarket chain ASDA.

Read more on PARTNERSHIP SUPPORT TO HELP SCHOOLS HIT TARGETS…

Housing benefit and prescription fraud are being targeted as the Department for Social Security and the NHS develop their anti fraud strategies.

It is estimated that some 900 million pounds is lost through housing benefit fraud each year. One of the principal reasons for fraud is the complexity of housing benefit and there has been no move yet to simplify the system and so limit the scope for fraud. The DSS has however picked up the Audit Commission criticism that local councils rarely prosecute when fraud is detected.

Read more on FRAUD CRACKDOWN…

Beck A, Broadhurst K
Public Administration, (UK), Winter 1998 Vol 76 No 4
Start page: 779. No of pages: 14

Examines the debate over the introduction of national identity cards in the UK and assesses proposals to introduce a voluntary card scheme. Asks whether a voluntary scheme will be any different in practice to a compulsory scheme, comparing the experience of European Union countries that have introduced a compulsory scheme with those that have introduced a voluntary scheme. Finds that the degree of compulsion is less important than the nature of accompanying legislation which spells out the circumstances in which an individual might have to prove his/her identity. Sees evidence in the countries with voluntary card schemes that the number of situations in which identity has to be proved increases over time, labelling this ‘compulsion by stealth’. Also highlights evidence that those people who do not have an identity card, in countries where the scheme is not compulsory, will be treated with suspicion, increasing the pressure on individuals to carry an identity card.

Read more on COMPULSION BY STEALTH – LESSONS FROM THE EU ON NATIONAL IDENTITY CARDS…