The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has chosen IBM as its preferred IT services partner in its modernisation programme aimed at improving the department’s services to the public and to its own staff. 

Council Community wardens in Darlington are the first in the country to use the same communications technology as the local police in a move that it is thought will help the wardens combat crime and anti-social behaviour more effectively.They are connected to Airwave, the communications system adopted by the Durham force late last year. The system uses new handsets that combine the functions of radios, data devices and mobile phones. 

By Naomi Eisenstadt Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. The Sure Start programme is about nursery education and childcare and it seeks to improve the health, education and emotional development of young children. Naomi Eisenstadt, Director of the Sure Start Unit, sets out a vision of mainstream services joining up to provide for the needs of disadvantaged children and their parents.

By D Wilcox.Development trusts and similar partnerships have been an essential component of urban and rural regeneration programmes and the guide centres on the importance of effective partnership working in the development of a trust. It is intended for anyone interested in how towns, cities and villages may be regenerated through the involvement of those with the greatest stake in their future - the people who live and work there. 

The interests of all water and sewerage customers need to be considered when the opportunity to benefit from competition in the water industry is opened to large commercial and other non-household customers, according to WaterVoice, which represents customers across England and Wales.In its response to a consultation by Ofwat, DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly Government, WaterVoice said it wanted to see the new competition regime deliver reduced charges and better service packages to the estimated 2,300 non-household customers in the competitive market, but also ultimately to produce more efficient operations, lower charges and improved services for all customers. 

A third of parents of Down’s syndrome children say they have experienced discrimination or prejudice from education professionals and more than half reported a lack of specialist knowledge and skills among professionals. 

The survey commissioned by the Society of IT Management (Socitm) shows that the gap between Local Authority ICT staff salaries and those in the private sector is closing. The salary gap at senior management level has narrowed substantially. In previous years salaries of ICT Directors in local government were typically only 60% of their private sector equivalents, ICT Directors in London and the South East are now being paid up to 86% of their equivalents in the private sector. 

Two new guides have been published to help local councillors and senior local government officers to develop effective performance management. 

A new qualification will be launched in the autumn to support those leading joined-up children’s services. The National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) will be the first national programme designed to meet the needs of leaders in multi-agency, early years settings.The new qualification will be recognised in multi-agency and multi-disciplinary settings across education, health and social services. 

By Philip Pearson.Every year some 2 million people in Britain are injured or made ill by their work, and each week around 500 people leave work as a result of such problems. All these injuries and illnesses caused by work can be prevented. This fully revised new edition provides advice on the most common health risks at work, and how you can tackle them.