Innovative local authorities are to work with some of the country’s biggest businesses in a new type of regulatory partnership which will aim to ensure that key trading laws are applied consistently. The test phase of the Primary Authority scheme, managed by the Local Better Regulation Office, will run from next month until March 2009 and will then be available across all councils from next April.

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Local Government is behind the times when it comes to identity authentication according to a new report from global information services company Experian. Its research shows that by contrast citizens are embracing new technology and two thirds of them want to access services online.

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By Steven Cohen, William Eimicke and Tanya Heikkila.

The fourth edition of this groundbreaking work synthesizes the current thinking in the field and presents practical lessons and tools in a highly accessible format.

Read more on THE EFFECTIVE PUBLIC MANAGER: ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN A CHANGING GOVERNMENT…