Local councils have provided most of the good practice ideas for improving services in the new ‘Good Practice Database’. The database has been set up by the Service First Unit in the Cabinet Office to help colleagues in all parts of the public sector to find out what others are doing. 

The Government has given in to long-term pressure for an independent appeals system for parents who fail to get their children into the school of their choice.
It comes after figures that show that the numbers of parents appealing against the Local Education Authority’s choice of school for their children has risen a further six per cent to 77,000 in the last year. 

The new Office of Government Commerce (OCG) set up within the Treasury will lead the effort in ensuring that all departments get best value from public money.
The OCG will be created by bringing together a number of bodies presently in the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, including the Buying Agency, CCTA, PACE and the Treasury Procurement Group and the continuing PFI Taskforce. 

Greca R
The International Journal of Public Sector Management, (UK), Vol 11 No 4 98. Start page: 314. No of pages: 21
Describes a model of co-operation between different providers of public services introduced during the reorganization of social welfare services in Munich between 1992 and 1996 which subsequently became an obligatory framework controlling all provision of social services in Germany from 1997.