While public health generally is improving, obesity and alcohol misuse is getting worse. The Audit Commission and the Healthcare Commission have called for a renewed drive to reverse this trend. The steep rise in the number of people who are overweight and obese or suffering from alcohol related illness could reduce the impact on mortality rates of recent improvements in heart disease and cancer.

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To mark the 10th anniversary of the Act which encourages whistleblowing, British Standards has published a code of practice to help organizations across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Whistleblowers are employees who raise a concern about a possible fraud, crime, danger or other serious risk that could threaten the organization or its reputation.

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This collection of essays from the New Local Government Network is edited by Iain Roxburgh. The essays follow from a seminar of academics working in the field of governance. The writers overwhelmingly support the view that the balance in governance between the centre and the locality is wrong and something fundamental needs to be done about it.

Read more on NEXT STEPS FOR LOCAL DEMOCRACY: LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITY AND PARTNERSHIP…