The part local councils can play in combating social exclusion and dealing with the widening gap in achievement in education will be examined in detail today at a conference organised by the think-tank the New Local Government Network.It takes place against a background of a steady overall improvement in educational standards but one where the gap in performance continues to grow with particular groups of children and young people being left behind. It will examine what modern local authorities and their partners should be doing to confront these failures, and what differences the recent Education Act can make. It will also consider how collaboration and new service delivery partnerships can offer more support to schools in meeting the needs of those pupils at risk of becoming socially excluded.

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A five thousand pound cash incentive is on offer to National Health Service organisations which can demonstrate good practice and innovation in the health informatics field under a new scheme. In this, its first year, the NHS Leadership in Health Informatics Accolade will be on the theme of ‘People’ and it will recognise innovative approaches to recruitment, retention, management, development or motivation of informatics staff to improve ways of working across the NHS and which ultimately benefit patient care.The new annual scheme, being run by the NHS Information Authority will reward initiatives within health informatics which demonstrate innovation and best practice. It will be based on a different theme each year. This year’s has been selected to tie in with the launch of the new human resources strategy for health informatics specialists Making Information Count. The scheme is open to anyone working in health informatics from all sectors and types of healthcare organisations.

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