A group of leading employers are joining charities today to call on Gordon Brown to introduce vouchers and tax breaks to help carers balance working with their caring responsibilities. The vouchers would be provided by companies for staff who are carers and today’s call is supported by the publication of research claiming the system has economic benefits.

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Leaders of public sector bodies and chief executives of businesses are being told that they need to take the security of employees’ and customers’ personal information more seriously. The call comes from the Information Commissioner, who publishes his annual report today, and follows several security breaches over the last year.

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The package has been developed by Communities and Local Government. It brings together the key components of many transformation and customer service projects carried out by local authorities and it links with other national and regional sources of support and capacity building.The package has been put together against the background of rising expectations of citizens and the calls for more choice in the way services are received. At the same time, there is increasing pressure on local authorities to cut costs, including the cross public sector requirement to deliver cashable efficiency gains of at least 3% per annum. The Business Improvement Package is designed to help local authorities and their partners improve services whilst reducing costs at the same time.

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