Nearly two thirds of men and over half of women in England are now overweight or obese. The National Audit Office has warned that treating obesity costs the NHS at least one billion pounds a year and the wider costs to the economy in lower productivity and lost output could be a further 2 billion pounds each year. The problem in the UK is increasing faster than in most other European countries. If the rate of increase continues, more than one in four adults will be obese by 2010.On a personal level it is estimated that there were 30,000 premature deaths in 1998 attributable to obesity and on average such people loose nine years of life. Coronary heart disease is particularly associated with obesity.

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The Public and Commercial Services Union has signed a landmark agreement on working arrangements for call centers with the Employment Service. Although the deal relates specifically to the Employment Services’ new network of customer service centers, it is likely to become a standard for public sector call centers across the board.The use of centers by central and local government is set to burgeon as the move towards the one stop shop gathers momentum. An example of this trend is the Inland Revenue’s radical programme to shift customer service away from paper and towards electronic services.The Employer Direct service will be launched nationally in the Autumn. It will use a network of eleven customer service centres to enable employers to place job vacancies with the Employment Service via a single local call rate national number or by fax or e-mail. Both employers and jobseekers will have 24 hours electronic access to Jobcentre services. The centres will have a total of 1,100 staff.

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Horton SThe International Journal of Public Sector Management, (UK), 2000 Vol 13 No 4

Start page: 306. No of pages: 13

Traces the evolution of the competency movement from its origin in mediaeval times through to the present day. Describes the national skills initiatives of the US government in its bid to increase the country’s economic competitiveness and its investigation of competence in the employment context with a view to understanding the basis of excellence. Touches also on the organizational competencies that denote success. Goes on to outline the development of the competency movement in the UK, drawing comparisons with the US movement and demonstrating how the competency movement has now become an international movement. Ends with an overview of the remaining articles in the journal which relate to competency in the public sector.

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