As private sector organizations claim that travel disruptions are delaying managers at a cost of more than 2 million working-hours per week, the Department for Transport has signed a contract for detailed traffic data to be provided from satellite navigation systems fitted in over 50,000 private and commercial vehicles.A survey by the Chartered Management Institute found that it takes the majority of managers more than half an hour to make their 10 miles or less journey to work. The research goes on to reveal that 79 per cent of managers have missed vital meetings and nearly one-fifth (17 per cent) also claim to have lost business opportunities because of transport disruption. The impact of these delays is being keenly felt in the workplace with 21 per cent of managers reporting a decline in their productivity and 35 per cent admitting to increased levels of irritability at work.

Read more on SATELLITE DATA TO SUPPORT ANTI CONGESTION MEASURES…

The Office of Government Commerce plans to give central departments and agencies a powerful lever for procuring goods and services and getting better deals. Currently each organization operates independently and in an earlier study it was found that 180 bodies were dealing with the same supplier. The planned electronic government marketplace, known as Zanzibar – named after the island in the Indian Ocean which is the home of the oldest marketplace – is scheduled to start operating in 2005. The marketplace will be an eHub providing a single access point for suppliers and buyers to the government marketplace.The public sector is the largest buyer of goods and services in the country, but this purchasing power is not used to the best advantage. It is thought that the target for central departments and agencies to procure 90% of low value goods electronically by March 2001 has not yet been achieved. It is also doubtful that the Office for Government Commerce target to make savings of 1 billion pounds on central government procurement by 2005 will be achieved on time. Zanzibar is the flagship project to deliver these and other e-procurement targets.

Read more on JOINED UP PROCUREMENT MOVES CLOSER…

By Rhys Andrews.This article explores the statistical relationship between deprivation and the performance indicators used for the first round of Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPAs) for English local councils. The statistical significance of the results is described and analysed in light of the Audit Commission’s decision to exclude deprivation from the CPA framework. For over one third of the PIs tested, deprivation had a statistically significant adverse effect on performance. The author shows that external environmental constraints on local authority performance must be recognized for accurate and equitable performance assessments.

Read more on ANALYSING DEPRIVATION AND LOCAL AUTHORITY PERFORMANCE…