Agencies providing job services, childcare, health and financial advice, the voluntary sector and colleges and universities, are joining up to help people get work and get on at work. This new initiative from the Department for Universities Innovation and Skills will be piloted in London and become fully operational across England by 2010/11.
The first pilot serviceswill be opened this year in the London Boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth. 

The number of people successfully completing apprenticeships in health and social care has tripled in the last two years and increased six-fold since the start of the new millennium. Around 500 apprentices per month are being awarded completion certificates. Adult Apprenticeships are also on the increase, with over 70 being successfully completed during 2007. 

By Christina Dykes
This article was first published in Public Management and Policy and is reproduced by permission of the Association. http://www.cipfa.org.uk/pmpa/index.cfm
Without political conviction our local representatives would at best be mere managers and we would lose some of the checks and balances that a democratic system brings. But all is not well with local representation. The recruitment and selection of councillors leaves much to be desired.