The information held by local councils and other public bodies has huge untapped value for the public and for the private sector. Examples include information relating to planning, demographics, environment, and transport. A new EU Directive on the Reuse of Public Sector Information is in place to encourage public bodies to maximise the value of the information they hold. The Office for Public Sector Information (OPSI) offers a range of support initiatives to help achieve this aim. This LocalGovTV programme explains the Directive and the opportunities that reusing public sector information present. It helps to identify and evaluate key information sources and signposts the support on offer to help in realising the benefits of reusing information held within the organisation.The programme is available http://www.localgov.tv

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Local authorities around the country are standing by to help British citizens who are evacuated from the spiralling violence in Lebanon and who return to Britain without family and friends. The Local Government Association says a number of councils, particularly around the airports that are likely to be used to receive refugees, have put a series of measures in place.The Chairman of the LGA, Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart, said authorities had put the wheels in motion to make sure people with no family to go to will have safe and clean places to stay. “After the awful suffering they have seen and experienced the most important thing for these people is a place where they can start to get their lives back together again,” he said. “The vast majority of people evacuated from the Lebanon will have friends or family in the UK that they can stay with. However, there will be those who have nowhere to go and no-one to turn to. It is these people that councils will help as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible to help ease some of the trauma they have undergone,” Sir Sandy added.

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Many district councils will face a less intensive inspection regime under new Comprehensive Performance Assessment arrangements announced by theAudit Commission. The new framework for district councils signals a more targeted approach to inspection in the future.The framework has been unveiled following extensive consultation with the councils and other stakeholders since last autumn. The Commission says the changes reflect the improvements made by local authorities under the previous framework.

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