By Janie Percy-Smith with Tom Burden, Alison Darlow, Lynne Dawson, Murray Hawtin and Stella Ladi, Promoting evidence based policy and practice is recognized as a key issue across public services and there is a widespread assumption that research will bring improvements. The authors challenge this assumption and claim that the impact of research in local government is relatively small. They describe weaknesses in disseminating findings and the lack of skill shown by policy officers in carrying out research and interpreting results. They also offer advice for officers, members, local government organizations and researchers.

Local authorities, social services departments and schools must all play their part in combating youth crime and the anti-social behaviour of young gangs according to the Home Office Minister, John Denham. He called for an end to inward looking attitudes that were standing in the way of progress.Speaking to a group of senior police officers, Mr. Denham said dealing with problems such as gangs of youths hanging around in public places was not just a matter for them.

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Latest figures show the number of people applying for places on social work courses has gone up by 8 percent in the last year. The provisional statistics are from the Social Work Admissions System, which handles six out of ten applications.The figures are seen as the most accurate indicator of the number of people wanting to enter the profession. They show an increase from 4,680 applicants last year to 5,070 in 2,002. The other 40 percent of applications are made directly to colleges or through other channels.

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