Public service offers a bewildering array of jobs which present an unequalled range of challenges and call for a profusion of skills. Managing market services in a local council is well away from the centre stage of public service, but in many ways is typical of the less familiar roles. So who does a job like this? What contribution can be made to society? These and other questions are answered in the profile.
The Government is planning changes to the Environmental Information Regulations that would give people a right to request details of any environmental information held by a public authority. The proposed amendment to the regulations would allow access to information on a range of environmental issues by strengthening the existing rules.The amended regulations will mean information can be withheld only in cases where the public interest for refusal of access clearly outweighed the public interest in disclosure. There will also be exceptions for information which has been supplied voluntarily and for personal information covered by the Data Protection Act.
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The number of National Health Service bodies working at arm’s length from the Department of Health is to be virtuallty halved under plans to save at least 500 million pounds in funding and to increase the resources that can be channelled directly to patient care.The Health Secretary John Reid set out the details in a statement naming the bodies that will be merged, abolished or see their functions streamlined. It is the second stage of the Department of Health’s changes to the way it works with stakeholders in the health and social care system.