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. The deal will see a number of Defra staff moving to IBM.The decision was made following a competitive tender and Defra will now be working closely with IBM over the coming weeks to finalise the contract and with a view to switching to new service arrangements later this year.

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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. This will enable the wardens to communicate directly with the police, their colleagues, and local members of the public and with the CCTV control room, all at the touch of a button.

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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.