The Working with Business National Project has been developed to provide local authorities with a framework within which they can develop and improve the online provision of information and transactional services for local businesses. The project will offer a range of products designed to enable local authorities to support their local businesses more efficiently and effectively. It will be accessible to all businesses, but will primarily focus on services provided to small and medium businesses and will aim to satisfy all business needs, both day-to-day and future long-term development strategies. The outputs of the Project will be freely available to all local authorities to adopt from 31 March 2004.Full details of the Project are available at: <http://www.workingwithbusiness.net/>
Commissioned by the Government Office for the East of EnglandThis study assessed the case for establishing a support service for a range of local partnerships to help them to develop as long term vehicles for community regeneration and renewal in the East of England. The report identifies current issues being faced by partnerships as: organizational capacity; strategic direction and programme/ project delivery. It highlights the problems being experienced by partners in making their structures, internal systems and procedures work effectively. The report argues that effective regeneration and renewal needs to be long term, community-led, be supported by other partners and involve community enterprise.
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Newly elected and long serving councillors in Birmingham will be able to take part in public sector management training after the election in June. Courses will be offered on a flexible basis and will provide councillors with a solid foundation in the essential management techniques. The programme will enable participants to learn how to plan, prioritise and manage their projects and resources. Individuals will also be encouraged to develop strategies to improve their effectiveness. Topics covered during the course will include community development, cultural awareness and devolution in practice.The project, which is the result of a partnership between Bournville College and the Chartered Management Institute, will give councillors the opportunity to undertake a learning programme linked to the national occupational standards for management. Those who participate in the course will be granted Student Membership within the Chartered Management Institute – a benefit that will give access to research facilities and project management tools. They will also be awarded a nationally recognised Level 3 certificate in devolved public sector management on successful completion of the course.
Cutting over 40,000 Civil Service jobs and making radical reforms is deliverable, but there are dangers ahead. This warning comes from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with the message to the Chancellor to learn downsizing lessons from the best practice in the private sector.The popular downsizing model of the early 1990s was designed to deliver major efficiency savings, but many doubts now exist over the effectiveness of crude downsizing. Where the process was too rapid, and not strategic enough, companies lost the people who were easiest to get rid of, then often discovered they’d lost the wrong people. Sometimes these people were good enough to be mobile and able to take on other jobs. Older staff were frequently made redundant, but they were some of the most experienced people in the organization. Research by the Institute suggests that continuous change, based on genuine consultation, delivers greater efficiency savings and genuine performance improvements.
By Ian Mckenzie The Department of Trade and Industry has awarded 17 framework agreements for the supply of broadband services to the public sector. Demand for broadband will be pooled and contracts awarded to providers by regional aggregation bodies. The author describes what broadband can do and what to be wary about when making the switch.
Extending the role of pharmacists to prescribing medicines marks another milestone in the removal of professional barriers in the health service. The first group of pharmacists have completed 25 days training and 12 days supervised practice and are now qualified to work in partnership with doctors, dentists and patients to implement Clinical Management Plans. The extended role is likely to be most useful in dealing with long-term medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes or coronary heart disease, or with long-term health needs, such as anti-coagulation.Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: “I am delighted that the first supplementary prescribing pharmacists have now qualified and that they will soon be bringing their expertise to the aid of both patients and doctors alike. Extending prescribing responsibilities to pharmacists will make getting the right medicine easier and more convenient than ever before and will help to reduce the burden on GPs by giving them more time to deal with acutely ill patients.”
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The Local Government Association has responded to the Chancellor’s announcement of a radical efficiency programme with a plea for greater freedom for local government so that councils can deliver greater efficiency. The Association wants councils to be freed up to build flexible partnerships with other councils, public sector bodies, and the private sector to get the most cost-effective deals in buying and delivering services.Sir Jeremy Beecham, the Association’s chair, said: “The drive to secure efficiency is not new to local government. Councils have developed cutting-edge practice and striven for value for money for years. The way to get value for money is to put devolved decision making at the heart of an agenda of localism, where directly elected councillors are responsible and accountable for their financial decisions. Top-down solutions to efficiency or remotely derived models will fail – an agenda that twins the efficiency drive with a devolution drive is the answer.”
Joining up a wide range of local services and bringing organizations together to build partnerships is a critical element of the vision of local government ten years on, presented by Local Government Minister Nick Rainsford. He drew the vision against a changing background of an ageing population with more people aged over 65 than under 16, the rapid growth of one person households and technology developments. Other factors driving change include the growth of the regional agenda, neighbourhoods and pressures on finance.Local councils are the natural leaders of the area and a focal point for partnership working. In areas such as health, education and community safety, the growth of partnership working will challenge traditional accountabilities and responsibilities. Councils will need to find new ways of influencing, shaping and contributing to key objectives which are not delivered directly.
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Chancellor Gordon Brown, in his Budget Statement, revealed how the Prime Minister’s vision of a transformed Civil Service outlined in a speech last month is to be put into effect. All central departments are to cut their budgets by 5% by 2008 and this will result in running costs being reduced to 3.7% compared to the 1990s average of 5.7%. Staff cuts of 43,300 posts have already been identified.In securing these efficiency gains there will be a strong emphasis on using normal staff turnover and the Government is examining options for strengthening the current arrangements for civil service staff to be redeployed across administrative boundaries.
This paper is a response from the Local Government Association to Kate Barker’s report on housing supply. Publication of the Barker report provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at how charges on land development can be paid locally so that community services don’t bear the burden unaided. New development puts pressure on roads, schools, health and other local facilities and the Association wants to see money from the increase in land value ploughed back into these services. It outlines radical plans to overhaul the way money from new building projects is collected and distributed. It argues that tax on profits from new development should be ploughed directly into local communities.Published by the Local Government Association http://www.lga.gov.uk
