Liverpool City Council has received a Vison 100 award as one of the top forward-thinking organisations in the UK. 

Primary care is the poor relation of the health service is the conclusion of a report by the King’s Fund. Although over 90 per cent of all NHS care happens in the GP surgery or in people’s own homes, it does not receive a fair share of NHS resources. 

A survey of almost 1000 UK companies published today by the Confederation of British Industry and KPMG Consulting shows that British business is set to fully embrace the Internet revolution over the next two to three years. According to the report, ‘The Quiet Revolution’, 58% of companies expect to derive at least 10% of their revenue directly from e-business within the next two to three years. 

The Government has unveiled its vision for a modernised criminal justice system. The strategy addresses the issues of improving detection, reducing the gap between the number of crimes and the number of convictions, deterring re-offending and supporting victims and witnesses. Every part of the existing criminal justice system will be subject to reform. 

Hodgkinson MThe Learning Organization, (UK), 2000 Vol 7 No 3
Start page: 156. No of pages: 11
Explores how middle managers understand the concept of the learning organization, particularly the ‘five disciplines’ defined by Senge, and to understand the barriers they perceive to the adoption of the concept. Reports the views of a group of middle managers, belonging to a large international firm, who were registered on a Diploma of Management Studies programme in the UK. 

A waste reduction group is celebrating the success of a targeted campaign to change behaviour.Waste Watch’s 3Rs for the 3rd Sector project has been running for two years in London and the North-West, working with not-for-profit organisations to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling. 

A new innovation business support scheme - Fast Track - has been launched to help construction businesses by retaining useful information gained from building projects.The half a million pound project aims to build a database of innovation. It recognises that for many projects, the information about excellent ideas behind what’s been built are lost as the construction teams split up. 

An analysis of the modernisation of pensions income has found that the Government is successfully targeting the least well-off.It also shows that this is achieved by heavy dependence on means testing, with the problems that brings of achieving fairness when a variety of benefits are claimed, which often offset each other. 

Public bodies face a new active duty to promote race equality in the provision of their services and functions.Legislation to amend the Race Relations Act of 1976 is to come into force towards the end of this year, after a period of consultation.
Whereas previously public bodies could take a passive approach to equality issues - such as answering a charge of discrimination should it arise - this new duty is aimed to encourage public bodies to avoid race discrimination before it occurs. 

By Steve LeachThe Local Government Act 2000 heralds the most radical departure from a system of business management that has remained relatively unchanged for over a century within local government. New structures and methods of working are being introduced in an effort to deliver more efficient and responsive decision-making.