Archives for July 2003

STATE AID APPROVAL WILL EASE PRESSURE ON GREEN BELT LAND

Headlines, PublicNet: 31 July, 2003

The European Commission has approved proposals to ease pressure on the green belt by making it more cost effective to reclaim brownfield sites. The approval will allow the Regional Development Agencies and local authorities to give financial help to developers to decontaminate polluted land.The announcement of the approval came from the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as environmental campaigners voiced concerns over the fate of the green belt under plans he unveiled for the first phase of a massive house building programme in the south east of England. He named five strategic sites where 200,000 homes will be built to tackle the chronic shortage of affordable housing in the region. .

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INDEPENDENT SURVEY REVEALS PATIENTS SATISFACTION

Headlines, PublicNet: 31 July, 2003

Nine out of ten people using the National Health Service rated it as a positive experience, according to one of the biggest studies of patient opinion ever conducted. The 2003 patient survey, found that the vast majority of patients in all areas reported that they had confidence in those who treated them.More than a quarter of a million people took part in the survey, the first to be carried out independently by the Commission for Health Improvement. It looked at three key areas, accident and emergency, outpatient services and primary care.

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IT’S YOUR CALL

Abstracts, PublicNet: 31 July, 2003

A survey of Chief Executives responsible for contact centres commissioned by Cable and Wireless and carried out by Teleconomy found that 70% of respondents rated their ability to provide multi-channel customer service as either poor or average. Organisations accept that they need to improve customer service, but many persist in treating contact centre management as an operational cost rather than an integrated part of their customer relationship strategy. The survey found that organisations focus mainly on ‘operational’ performance measures, such as the time taken to handle a customer call – while consumers place the greatest value on how well their query is resolved.Although 78% of respondents said they base their contact strategy either wholly or partially on delivering good customer service, the remaining 22% said they focus wholly on minimising cost. The survey indicates that contact centres are not using the right measures to monitor their levels of customer service. Furthermore, 10% of contact centres still use no measurements at all to monitor performance. With the majority of respondents acknowledging that contact centres needed to become more sophisticated, the research also shows that there is no consensus on how to deploy developing technologies. Automated systems, which enable customer self-service, polarised opinion. While 35% of organisations believed that fully automated systems would decrease the level of customer service they provided, 49% thought that it could enhance customer service.

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HOW TO MAKE COLLABORATION WORK

Book News, PublicNet: 30 July, 2003

By David StrausWorking with others to solve problems and make decisions is often stressful, frustrating, and inefficient. In How to Make Collaboration Work, David Straus, a pioneer in the field of group problem solving, introduces five principles of collaboration that have been proven successful time and again in nearly every conceivable setting. Straus draws on his thirty years of personal and professional experience to show how these principles have been applied by organizations as diverse as Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston Public Schools, Kaiser Permanente, the city of Denver, and many others. How to Make Collaboration Work shows how collaboration can become a joy rather than a chore-a kind of chemical reaction that releases far more energy than it consumes.

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OLDHAM PARK PAVES WAY FOR PROJECT TO TRANSFORM PUBLIC SPACES

Headlines, PublicNet: 30 July, 2003

Plans to reward imaginative schemes to transform parks and public spaces have been unveiled by the government. The Regeneration Minister, Yvette Cooper, said the project would see 89 million pounds being shared between 27 programmes across England to improve the state of parks and public spaces.Councils can express interest in the scheme through their regional government office. The successful programmes, which will be selected in the autumn, will be responsible for driving up current standards as well as focusing on new, well designed parks and public spaces. They must also ensure that management and maintenance of the parks continues in the future.

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COUNCIL LEADERS GET GREATER ROLE IN ‘AGENDA SETTING’ LGA

Headlines, PublicNet: 30 July, 2003

The Local Government Association is planning to make more effective use of council leaders to put its case to government. The association also intends to give more priority to gathering and promoting evidence of local government’s positive impact on public services.The measures have been announced in response to the latest audit of the LGA’s impact in Westminster and Whitehall. It highlighted the association’s use of too small a number of leading politicians and the weakness of its evidence base to support the “moral case” for local democratic government.

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LEARNING AND DEVELOPING IN REGENERATION PARTNERSHIPS

Features, PublicNet: 29 July, 2003

By Kelvin MacDonald There are some 1000 regeneration partnerships in England and they vary greatly in size and type. The author found that arrangements for training and development of everyone involved from the Board downwards leaves much to be desired. He argues that action needs to be taken by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Regional Development Agencies and Government Offices for the Regions.

MORE COUNCILS TO SHARE HOME IMPROVEMENT FUNDING

Headlines, PublicNet: 29 July, 2003

Thirteen local councils in England could share 1.5 billion pounds of extra funding to help ensure their tenants will see major improvements to their homes and housing management over the next seven years. The money is being allocated under the government’s Arms Length Management Organisation programme – ALMO.The successful councils are Barnet, Camden, Easington, Gateshead, Harrow, High Peak, Islington, Newcastle, Poole, Sheffield, Solihull, South Lakeland and Warrington. The Housing Minister, Keith Hill, said the funding, which covers the period to 2010, was additional to the councils’ existing expenditure on their housing stock. He said the investment would contribute greatly to the government’s target of making all council homes decent by 2010. It would enable the authorities to improve the quality of more than 185,000 homes of which sixty per cent currently fall below the decent homes standard.

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UNION ‘DISTURBED’ BY COUNCILS’ IGNORANCE OF CODE

Headlines, PublicNet: 29 July, 2003

The country’ s biggest local government union -UNISON – is claiming that forty per cent of councillors and council officers do not know what their responsibilities on workforce matters are under the ‘Best Value’ code of practice. It follows a survey which the union carried out at this year’ s Local Government Association conference.In the light of the findings UNISON is calling for senior local authority staff to undergo training so that they are aware of how to implement the code which was designed to avoid the creation of two-tier workforces within councils. It was introduced earlier this year, and applies when Best Value authorities, are contracting out services and transferring staff to a new employer. Under the code newly-employed workers have the right to pay and conditions which are “overall no less favourable” than those for staff who have been transferred.

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COUNCIL CLOSURE POWERS WILL HELP FIGHT CRIME

Headlines, PublicNet: 28 July, 2003

Local councils are to be given the powers to seek the closure of alleyways in 52 areas to help prevent crimes such as robbery, burglary, arson and drug dealing. The announcement has been made by the Environmental Quality Minister, Alun Michael.Mr. Michael made his announcement in Walsall, where six areas will be designated for rights of way closure. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was one of the 11 authorities that provided sufficient evidence to Defra that closing rights of way in would help cut crime. Applications were made by 15 local authorities to be allowed to consider closures of alleyways in 78 areas. The moves were supported by evidence from police and community groups. Decisions on the remaining applications have been deferred to give those councils the chance to provide more evidence that the rights of way are facilitating crime.

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