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.
The Challenge is designed to dramatically change the way in which the region takes on the task of achieving the Government’s targets for 2002. 

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. 

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.