Microsoft Ltd and MSN have launched a Public Services Channel offering access to online government and healthcare services. Departments collaborating in the channel include Department of Health, the Office of the e-Envoy, Inland Revenue, the Department for Education and Skills, Department for Work & Pensions and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.The site includes direct links to the three main health sites. 

Lord Haskins and his review team from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been given the task of bringing cohesion to the patchwork quilt of agencies delivering services to rural areas. 

This report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows that only 16% of respondents in the public and private sectors believe their organizations are very effective at developing business plans that specify the management capabilities required. Thirty per cent of organizations do not even have business plans. The investigation by the Institute found that current management development practice is disconnected from the business challenges in many organizations.