By Geoffrey Filkin, Enid Allen and John Williams.Many involved in local government envisage that strategic partnerships will bring about a revolution in public service delivery. The scale of some partnerships is striking, with contracts of 10 million pounds a year over many years, involving many functions, high levels of investment and the transfer of large number of staff. The report is a guide to how to approach strategic partnerships, it describes a framework for thinking ‘partnerships’ and uses actual case studies. It sets out lessons for local government, private sector partners and colleagues in other organizations becoming involved in partnerships. It guides readers through some of the issues involved in partnerships such as: Are they delivering? How are they managed?

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The TUC and The Industrial Society have condemned the UK’s long hours culture, and urged employers to adopt a more positive approach to work/life balance.The two have jointly launched a guide to flexible working, ‘Get the balance right’. They say that people in the UK work the longest hours in Europe and almost half of the country’s employees have no flexible working arrangements in place.

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A Government agency and a local council have got together to make taxis a safer mode of transport.As from next month, would-be taxi drivers wanting to work in the area covered by Chiltern District Council in Buckinghamshire are to be assessed by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) before being given licences to drive cabs.

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