The best-performing local councils are to face lower levels of inspection. The four largest Inspectorates of local authorities have announced a major reduction in site-based inspection in councils. Instead, inspection programmes for single and upper-tier councils for this year will focus on the councils and services where most improvement is needed.A database launched by the Local Services Inspectorate Forum brings together the forward programmes for the Audit Commission, Benefit Fraud Inspectorate, Ofsted and the Social Services Inspectorate. The idea is that good performers will have the least inspection, freeing them to deliver better services in line with public service reform principles.

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By June Statham and Ann Mooney The need for childcare outside normal working hours is growing. The authors look at what helps and what hinders the development of childcare services to cover atypical work times. They call for a broader debate on children’s place in society, and about ways of achieving a balance between children’s and parents’ needs and the requirements of paid work.

The Local Government Association has questioned plans for what it calls “heavy handed intervention by central government” in cases where councils are failing to make planning decisions within target times. The association says the proposals will not deliver much needed housing.It says the idea will not achieve the kind of sustainable communities that both local and central government want to see. What is needed is a partnership approach between central and local government, which must address infrastructure investment and the government’s role in funding transport and other public services.

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The Local Government Information Unit is calling for a radical overhaul of local government finance following the publication of figures which show that 80 per cent of local authority spending comes from central government grants. The think tank says the figures from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) confirm the broad trend towards increased central financial control of local government that it has identified in its own recent research.The unit says analysis has shown that purpose-specific central government grants have risen by 137 per cent from 4.9 billion pounds in 1997-98 to 11.7 billion in this financial year. Meanwhile, it says, mainstream central government grant funding of local authorities, which represented 41 per cent of revenue in 1997-98, has accounted for only 23 per cent of the extra 24 billion pounds going to town halls since then. The LGIU says this shows that not only is four fifths of money for local authority services determined by central government, but less than a quarter of this new money can be spent to meet locally determined need.

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By Hal G. RaineyIn the third edition of his award-winning book, Hal G. Rainey provides a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of research on public organizations and management. Drawing on a review of the most current research about government organizations and managers-and about effective and ineffective practices in government – this important resource offers specific suggestions for managing these challenges in today’s public organizations. Using illustrative, real-life vignettes and examples, the book provides expert analysis of organizational design, goals, power, effectiveness, leadership, motivation and work attitudes and decision making.

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Managers find it difficult to switch off when they are on holiday. According to research by the Chartered Management Institute 45% contact their employers by choice when on annual leave.The majority of managers have more than 5 weeks holiday entitlement each year, but increasing work commitments mean that 40 per cent of managers do not take up their full holiday allowance. The figures are higher in the manufacturing and retail sectors where 73% of entitlement is taken, but lowest in the public sector where the figure is only 39%. 4% of public sector workers take “about” half of the days they have available.

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The potential benefits of e-Government will not be realized without a radical re-think is the key message from the Independent think tank The Work Foundation. In a report ‘SmartGov – Renewing Electronic Government for Improved Service Delivery’ it says that e-government has the potential not only to transform public services, but to fix the credibility gap between what people want and what they get from Government. This would then help to overcome the spiral of dissatisfaction and low voter turnout.e-Government is about creating a new form of political legitimacy, but theories about what it is for include saving money and eliminating benefit fraud. The report argues that it is about re-working government to better suit modern life. It offers a philosophy for re-invention of the state and a mechanism for renewal comparable to such significant realignments of public services as nationalization and privatization.

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By Sir Brian Briscoe Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. Local government has been in the middle of tensions between the unions and the Government and there is much to be learned from the way the two tier workforce issue and the first service dispute were resolved. Sir Brian Briscoe from his insider view gives insights into how processes have worked and he sets out a vision for how they could work better.

Public services should move from the traditional command-and-control style of management to a high-performance model based on autonomy and trust. This call for a re-think of the way public services are managed comes from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in a report ‘People and Public Services: Why Central Targets Miss the Mark.’ The report’s author, Observer Management Editor, Simon Caulkin, argues that public sector organisations should develop their own quality-based ‘routes to excellence’ to allow them to turn the rhetoric of ‘new localism’ into reality. People management, not targets should be at the heart of the reform process.Calculating the number of targets that the public sector is subject to is difficult, but at national level the Public Service Agreements that departments and agencies conclude with the Treasury contain around 125 targets. The NHS alone has at least 60. One estimate is that local government has more than 600 targets to meet.

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The multi-agency cross cutting approaches to deliver sustainable reductions in crime and promote safer, more secure communities are struggling to make a difference. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has found that none of the 374 partnerships provided an excellent service. Of the 24 partnerships that were subject to Best Value inspections only 9 were judged as providing a good service.The partnerships bring together the police and local councils as well as other local public bodies such as health, probation and education. They invite the participation of private, voluntary and community groups and the community itself.

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