By Julie Allan, Gerard Fairclough, and Barbara Heinzen.Story telling is now acknowledged as a rigorous approach, increasingly valued in business and public policy for its ability to offer fresh insights, raise awareness, enhance creativity and deal with complexity and uncertainty. Power of the Tale takes the everyday stories of life in a variety of organizations and suggests, not only why they are vital, but also how to start telling stories that could make a difference in a working environment. 

Although elected members of councils have been taking decisions about e-government for several years, a large number have been reluctant to dip their toe in the information technology pool. This is surprising in one sense because most of them do at least some of their work at home and IT can contribute to the efficiency of homeworking. 

The Department for Work and Pensions has launched an electronic claim service that also has a facility for advising change of circumstances such as a new address or a different partner. The service is not totally electronic, because claims must be supported by a birth certificate.