The London Borough of Camden has launched an Internet service for students to apply for loans to support them at university. The service, which is provided by Impower Plc and Cisco Systems Ltd, replaces paper forms and checks data as the student completes the form on the screen. The benefit from the checking process is that the problem of incorrect or incomplete forms is removed saving time for the student and expense for the Council. 

The formal merging of health and social services is one of the measures set out in the Health and Social Care Bill announced in the Queen’s speech. The Bill provides for setting up Care Trusts to operate in a similar way to Primary Care Trusts and NHS Trusts. They would offer a one-stop shop for seamless care, especially for the elderly, to include health, social care and other local authority related services, such as housing.