Changes are to be made in the Right to Buy regulations in forty-one local authority areas in London and the south of England to tackle severe housing pressures and reduce homelessness. The Housing Minister, Jeff Rooker announced that the councils would have their maximum Right to Buy discounts lowered.All but one of the councils affected were in the list of local authority areas identified in January as being under severe pressure. London borough of Greenwich has been added to the list while two councils, Christchurch and Spelthorne, have had their requests to be excluded from the scheme accepted.

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A voluntary scheme which advises lone parents on how to get back into work doubles their chances of finding jobs according to new independent research. The National Centre for Social Research interviewed around 2,500 parents to measure the success of the New Deal For Lone Parents scheme.The study also found that the scheme dramatically increased the rate at which lone parents leave Income Support. The findings have been welcomed by the Minister for Work, Nick Brown who said the clear success of NDLP should help to convince more people to volunteer to take part.

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By Jeremy Long Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. Although the railway industry is hardly an exemplar of service delivery, there are lessons the public sector can learn from its experience. Jeremy Long, the Chief Executive GB Railways, draws out some of the learning such as working with communities and listening to what customers want.