In a consultation exercise launched by the Department for Education and Skills young people are being asked to give their views on proposals for revamping the education for 14 to 19 year olds. The exercise will include young people’s focus groups run by experts, distributing copies of the proposals to all members of the UK Youth Parliament and Youth Councils, advertising in schools and colleges and on websites targeted at young people. Details of the changes can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/youngpeople.The proposals seek to overcome the rigidity of present arrangements and the current focus on academic achievement. The plan provides for young people to follow pathways tailored to their aptitudes and aspirations. These should include a wide range of high quality vocational and academic programmes in school, college and the workplace. More people should be encouraged to stay in learning to the age of 19 and beyond. An overarching award available to young people to recognise the breadth and depth of achievement by the age of 19 is proposed.

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A ‘joined up’ debate has been launched across central and local government and the health service on the implications of the modernizing agenda for people who work in public services. The Cabinet Office, the Improvement & Development Agency and Department of Health working with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development have started a research programme to inform the debate.Initial research from the programme notes that modernization differs from the efficiency drives of the 80s and 90s because it brings a greater challenge. It is much easier to bear down on people to cut costs than to encourage them to risk their reputations and control over their job in a new approach to work.

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This report by the Society of IT Management in local government (SOCITM) sets out the findings of the latest survey of council websites. It makes an important contribution to gauging the level of activity in local authorities as they move towards the 2005 target of providing all service electronically. It reveals that the best council websites now perform as well as the best private sector sites. The report recognizes the critical part websites play in plans for e-government. They are becoming a mechanism for delivering services and encouraging dialogue with citizens and customers. The survey examines how well each website carries out this job in practice. Better Connected 2002 presents its findings along with a wealth of information and advice to help less developed sites improve their performance to match that of the best. It provides clear evidence that while much is improving – over one in four authorities has made a distinct improvement – overall the rate of improvement has not yet accelerated. If anything, it has slowed down from last year. Many authorities have been busy in adding transactions to their sites but this does not make them ‘transactional’. To achieve this status requires a major re-think. This takes time to implement as well as resources. The report urges councils to embrace the fact that the website is a strategic resource and act on the management issues raised in this report.
Better Connected 2002 – A snapshot of local authority websites. Report available from SOCITM. ?150 (?125 for SOCITM members).
<http://www.socitm.gov.uk>

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