More than seven out ten councils say the condition of local roads, footpaths and cycleways in their areas has got worse over the last year. A report from the Institution of Civil Engineers also says local authority transport experts’ estimation of the political management of national transport issues is at an all time low.The ICE’s 2003 ‘Local Transport Survey’ has found that the road maintenance backlog has increased by about 12 per cent over the last year from 7.4 billion pounds in 2002 to 8.3 billion now. The report says, though, that detailed benchmarking is unacceptably difficult as there is no single commonly accepted method of assessing the state of the nation’s roads.The Institution says, too, that the poor state of the local highways network – on which three-quarters of all journeys are made – is being made worse by evidence that local authorities are not spending their full budget allocations on maintenance because of demand for money to be spent in other areas.

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One of the country’s most senior nurses has been appointed as Patient Champion for Accident and Emergency services. Jonathan Asbridge , who is President of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and former Chief Nurse at St Bartholomew’s hospital will lead the drive for improvement by supporting NHS staff as well as patients.In his new role it is expected that he will help, assist and encourage staff to be responsive to the needs of patients and to act as a national spokesperson in promoting good practice in A&E throughout the health service.

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Education services provided for pupils with special medical needs by local authorities are improving, according to a report from the Office for Standards in Education. It found there was a good quality of teaching and learning in the 12 Local Education Authorities included in a study.Pupils were well behaved and had a positive attitude towards their work but the report says more help is needed for pupils with the greatest difficulties.The Ofsted inspectors also reported that Government guidance introduced in 2001 has helped LEAs to improve parts of the service offered to the pupils, but said more work was needed to ensure that pupils who are physically ill or injured or who have mental health difficulties receive an appropriate education.

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The amount of waste collected by local councils is continuing to rise according to latest statistics. These show an increase to 28.8 million tonnes in 2001-02, up 2.7 per cent on the previous year’s figure.The amount of rubbish being disposed of in landfill sites is also up, rising from 22 million tonnes to 22.3 million tonnes over the same period, though the proportion of rubbish handled in this way has actually fallen by two per cent to 77 per cent. In total, some sort of value was recovered from about 6.5 million tones through recycling, composting or energy recovery.Households generate almost nine tenths of the rubbish councils have to handle with every home accounting for 1.2 tonnes of waste per year. At the same time the number of homes which now have ‘kerbside’ collection schemes has increased to 58 per cent and the amount of waste collected for recycling through those schemes increased by 18 per cent to 1 million tonnes in 2001-02.

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A review has been launched to look at how food and catering services are purchased by central government and its agencies as well as by local councils, schools, hospitals and prisons The review by public sector caterers and buyers, is being coordinated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and will look at the environmental impact of production and distribution, waste, energy and biodiversity, animal welfare and pesticide use, and nutrition.The public sector is an enormous customer for food producers – spending more than 1.8 billion pounds a year. The NHS alone spends 500 million pounds. The review will examine whether small producers are being given a fair chance to compete for public sector contracts and whether the type of food served can contribute to organisations’ wider objectives.

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Housing poverty is the most extreme form of social inequality in Britain, according to a report published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research. It sets out the case for dramatic changes to close the housing “equity gap” and increase choice.The author, Chris Holmes, an ippr Visiting Research Fellow , accuses successive governments of bowing to the pressure of nimbyism and ignoring the consequences of growing inequality. The report says, that despite increased consensus amongst experts and politicians on the need for radical measures and new homes, there is often strong resistance to local change. The polarisation of housing provision also has a negative effect on school standards, public services, crime and neighbourhoods – all public priorities.

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Qualitative techniques are used extensively in government social research but there are concerns about the rigour of these techniques and the robustness of the evidence base that they draw upon. In response to the concerns the Government Chief Social Researcher’s Office, part of the Cabinet Office, commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to undertake a methodological review of quality standards in qualitative evaluation methods. The aim of the project was to produce guidance for undertaking research and evaluation that uses qualitative methods. The resulting framework provides a useful and useable guide for assessing the credibility, rigour and relevance of individual research studies.Link: http://policyhub.gov.uk/servlet/Menu?id=1728

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By Harold KerznerIn this new book, Kerzner details the Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM), a unique, industry-validated tool for helping organisations assess their progress in integrating project management throughout their organization. He begins by examining the principles of strategic planning and how they relate to project management. He then introduces the PMMM, detailing the five different levels of development for achieving maturity, along with benchmarking instruments for measuring an organization’s progress along the maturity curve.

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Water companies are making the investments necessary to deliver environmental and water quality improvements, according to a report from the regulator, Ofwat, which looks at the companies’ performance over the last financial year compared with Ofwat’s expectations when the current price limits were set. But the regulator is concerned that there is still much work to do to meet some targets by 2005.’Financial performance and expenditure of the water companies in England and Wales 2002-03′ gives details of the companies’ financial position. It says that at industry level, capital expenditure for the period was 3.45 billion pounds – up by 13 per cent on the previous year. Capital expenditure for the first three years of the period was 9.3 billion, significantly lower than the 11.2 billion pounds projected in the price limits.

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New research has shown that in spite of the scale of the problem of absence from work – estimated to cost British organisations 11 billion pounds every year – every year much more could be done to manage it. The report, ‘Attendance management’, produced for The Work Foundation by Stephen Bevan, examines trends and looks at the practical techniques organisations can use to reduce absence.It finds that although the headline figures for absence have remained virtually unchanged, a quiet revolution has been taking place. The UK average has just risen, for the first time in six years, to 7 days per worker, but its causes and management have undergone radical change.

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