Councils, and all public sector workers faced with the challenge of market-testing their services, will welcome recognition from the Government that the quality and training of staff represents an important factor in delivering quality services.Such issues are among some of the new criteria councils will be able to use when they seek partnerships with the private sector under new proposals set out in a new Best Value consultation paper.

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The British Medical Association has welcomed the Prime Minister’s ten point plan for freeing family doctors of much of their paperwork and returning to them their primary role – caring for patients.Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee described Tony Blair’s plan to free up surgery time as “a constructive approach to addressing GPs’ inexorably growing workload.”

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