A new partnership has been set up between the Home Office and two environmental community groups to try to improve public spaces and community safety. The organisations - Groundwork and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers - will be supported by the Home Office’s Anti-Social Behaviour Unit which is providing 2.3 million pounds to fund Operation Gate-It.The money will pay for environmental improvements in communities across England and Wales. 

A report into the quality of social care services in England expresses concern at the variation in performance across the country and says there is more work to be done before all services are of the highest quality. 

Pensioners in some of England’s poorest rural areas will be given extra encouragement to take up benefits and allowances through a new one and a quarter million pound fund launched by the Rural Affairs minister Alun Michael. The money will be available over the next two years for a range of organisations.The fund is being launched jointly with the Department for Work and Pensions, whose Partnership Fund tackles social exclusion nationally among older people. 

A report has been published calling for extensive powers for the new regional assemblies that may be created in parts of England following referendums due to be staged in the autumn. 

This strategy document confirms the Government’s commitment to involving the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the delivery of public services both at national and local level, and recognises the unique contribution that the Sector can make towards achieving shared goals. The target is to increase volunteering and the VCS contribution to delivering public services by 5% by 2006. Connexions is the government’s support service for all young people aged 13 to 19. 

By Roger Buckley and Jim CapleThe book is written with the newcomer to the training function particularly in mind. It aims to be practical and engaging and is as valuable to those seeking to put their training experience into a coherent context as it is to managers who need to understand the role that training can play. It gives a comprehensive outline of the major instructional and training concepts, and their relationship to training in practice. 

Modernisation of licensing laws in England and Wales has moved a step nearer with the laying before Parliament of draft Guidance to licensing authorities. 

A new scheme has been launched to help key public sector workers to buy homes to help recruit staff and retain their skills in fields including teaching, the National Health Service and the police and fire services. 

User influence on the technology developments in the NHS has been stepped up with the appointment of Professor Aidan Halligan as joint Director of the National IT Programme. He will share the role with Richard Granger, who is currently Director General. 

Without co-ordinated action across Government, the next few years could see an increase in social exclusion. The trends that are exposing more people to the risk of exclusion include an increasing premium on skills, an ageing population with more social care needs, greater ethnic diversity and a growing proportion of single person households.