By Michael Barber. Reproduced by permission of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies. Insights into the way officials in Whitehall craft policies to bring about reform are rare. Michael Barber, The Prime Minister’s Chief Adviser on Delivery sets out the policy making process, with advice for policy makers on how to make it work better. For the wider audience his thoughts reveal the trials and tribulations that policy makers face in turning ideas into practical results.

Local authorities should be doing more to improve the performance of their ICT services and to ensure that they are exploiting the technology fully to their advantage.Those are the conclusion of a report from the Society of Computing and Technology Managers which has examined the performance of ICT services in best value reviews. It says while these show there are good prospects of improvement, councils should be doing much more.

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The National Audit Office has saved taxpayers 1.5 billion pounds over the last three years, according to its annual report which is published today.Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said the past year had been marked by increasing demand for its services from Government, Parliament and international organisations and by significant savings for the taxpayer.

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