By Tony Grace The Broadband Britain campaign commits the Government to install broadband into every public service site in the UK. The focus now is to connect entire communities to bring the benefits of downloading text, images and sound to local people. The author gives a picture of what has been achieved so far and the direction the technology is moving.

England’s 88 most deprived local authority areas are to share an extra 400 million pounds to tackle crime, improve poor health, housing and education and create jobs. The money will be allocated to them from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund as part of a long-term approach to reverse what the government calls “the spiral of decline” in impoverished communities.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister says people living in deprived areas are already seeing the benefits of 500 million pounds of NRF spending, overseen by local partnerships, to improve the standards of public services by targeting them at the people and places that need them most. It claims Neighbourhood Renewal is delivering lasting change to communities, through projects ranging from wardens reducing the fear of crime, training schemes which create jobs, support services for teenage mothers and programmes helping disabled young people to live independently.

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A ballot of family doctors on the proposed new contract for GPs has been delayed while the British Medical Association and the NHS Confederation investigate reports that many practices would lose money under the new arrangements, putting their viability at risk.The BMA announced details of the proposed new contract last month following 16 months of negotiations with the NHS Confederation, acting as agents for the government. Voting papers on the acceptability of the deal were due to go out on Thursday this week to all the UK’s 43,000 GPs, with the closing date for the ballot scheduled for April 11th.

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