UK Online, the gateway to Government services on the Internet, will be provided by BT. Testing of the new service will start in July and limited facilities will be available for public use from the autumn. A fully operational service will run from summer 2001.UK Online will be the first point of call for Internet users who want to make use of any central or local government service. They will be able to access the system through a personal computer, TV or mobile phone. Services currently available on the Internet include NHS Direct, consumer advice, Foreign Office advice for travellers and searches and returns to Companies House. Services due to become available later in the year include electronic filing of tax returns, VAT registration and returns, job vacancies and the Small Business Service.

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Richard Broadbent, former Group Managing Director at Schroders plc has scrapped the 19th century management structure at Customs and Excise which was based on policy area responsibility. This is the start of a process of change which so far has produced a six person Management Committee to manage the department and abolished overlapping responsibilities. Committees responsible for co-ordination between the different policy areas have also been scrapped.The re-structuring of the senior management team will allow the Board to focus exclusively on strategic issues and approval of annual plans and budgets prepared by the Management Committee. Richard Broadbent, who was appointed Chairman of Customs and Excise in February 2000 will chair the Committee as well as the Board. Committee members will have individual cross department responsibilities such as policy, central functions and outputs. This switch from a vertical to a lateral structure will make each members responsible for specific issues which span across the department and this will end the fragmentation of accountability which caused problems in the past.

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Keeping track of who is doing what is difficult, which is why the LGA has published this detailed analysis of the full range of initiatives. It provides a comprehensive guide to the present range of programmes and gives the location and telephone and e-mail contact details for all the zones and community-based initiatives across England and Wales. It also lists all the local authorities which fall within such areas by type of initiative. It concludes with a grid giving the geographical distribution of zones and area-based initiatives. It also explains the aims, partners, funding, powers, timescale, implementation and monitoring plans for each type of initiative, and for each one there are case study examples of how they are working in practice.Whose zone is it anyway? 20 pounds (or 10 pounds to local authorities) from IDA publication sales on 020 7296 660

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