The pace of development towards providing all services electronically by 2005 will have to speed up if the target is to be met. The latest survey of council websites by the Society of IT Managers reveals that 2% of the 467 councils in the UK provide a range of electronic services that meet the 2005 target requirements. Overall the number of transactions available has increased by 50% duiring the last year, but from a low base. The majority of sites (69%) carry basic information.There has been slow progress in improving websites and 66% have remained unchanged in the last year. An encouraging sign is that councils are getting better at responding to e-mail enquiries with 67% replying to a test e-mail query within 3 days, compared to 34% in the previous year.
Leadership by a headteacher is the common factor in schools that successfully deliver the literacy and numeracy strategies. A survey by Ofsted found that in all schools making good progress the headteacher provided strong leadership and good management. Ofsted inspectors searched for the ingredients of success and found that successful leaders made a convincing case for the need to change, involved staff in the process of improvement and systematically evaluated teaching and learning.Conversely the inspectors found that where leadership was ineffective the leader had an adverse effect on the process of improvement. Common factors for poor performing schools included delay in carrying out a literacy audit, failure to set a firm timetable for training and inadequate arrangements for monitoring classroom practice.
By Matthew Horne and Daniel Stedman JonesRecent developments in leadership theory and practice have emphasised the growing complexity of leadership. The increasing role of values, communication and interpersonal relationships and the central importance of responding to and shaping continuous change challenge all those in leadership positions. This report provides a ‘reality check’ of leadership in UK organisations. It examines the perceptions and experiences of managers from the private, public and voluntary sectors. It looks in depth at what they think good leadership should involve, and asks whether their experiences fit with their ideals and preferences. The UK needs to recruit and develop growing numbers into management and leadership positions. One recent estimate puts the annual demand for new managers at around 400,000 between now and 2006. The report addresses the question of how leadership potential is best developed and the effectiveness of particular development tools.