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. 

By Stuart Lister, Emma Wincup, Toby Seddon, Sam Barrett and Peter Traynor
Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, a ten-year strategy published in 1998, focused strongly on tackling drug-related crime. The police play important role in combining the curbing of drugs supply with the potentially contradictory role of channeling drug-using offenders into treatment. 

By Jane Martin
The view of many is that the local political process is not the place to go if you want to get things done. We hear all too often that the public has lost confidence in the political system, that people distrust politicians and care less and less about collective problems and more and more about their individual needs and wants. Some of this must be true, judging by the evidence of low turnout at elections and decreasing membership of political parties. 

By Jacquie Mutter.
Qualifications are important when offenders re-enter the world of work, but certificates are only given for academic achievement whilst in prison or on probation. This is changing with the Skillstrain project being trialled by the Qualifications Curriculum Authority, who are responsible for accrediting qualifications in colleges and at work. 

By Paul Skidmore, Kirsten Bound and Hannah Lownsbrough
Social networks enable citizens and communities to access social capital which in turn provides people with the resources to work together and tackle problems for themselves. Improving social outcomes in this way is more effective, more legitimate and cheaper, than traditional public service delivery. The authors look at the problems of engaging people in governance and developing relationships. 

By Andy Bagley
Changes to the Assessment Framework from April 2008 could leave local authorities unprepared and ill equipped to deliver against performance targets. Fewer targets do not mean less performance measurement, it means focusing measurement on the things that matter. The author describes how local authorities could run the risk of failing to achieve key government targets if they do not have the right working methods and measures in place to deliver performance success. 

By Bruce Cooper.
Sharing services between public bodies is a key feature of Transformational Government, the strategy for raising efficiency across the public sector. The benefits of sharing services are widely acknowledged and there are a number of successful programmes to support the rhetoric. But local government is a long way from embracing this approach. 

By Guy Palmer, Tom MacInnes and Peter Kenway,
This New Policy Institute annual report of indicators of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom provides a comprehensive analysis of trends and differences between groups. A wide range of measures show that the policies to counter poverty and social exclusion are failing to deliver. The tables show a worsening in the number in low income, children in low-income households, low income in work and low income and council tax. 

By Fran Branfield and Peter Beresford.
Involving users in the health and social care services they receive is a popular idea, but its value is being questioned. The service providers have begun to ask what evidence there is that it improves services. Users of services have raised the issue of what they are actually able to achieve by their involvement and to question the usefulness of getting involved. 

By Craig Hart, Chris Shane, Karen Spencer and Angela Still.
Getting the right balance between care and control in supporting people with learning difficulties leads to hard decisions. Because academic research can produce misleading findings the authors asked people with theses difficulties to do their own research. The findings highlight the importance of less control, more choices and greater independence to secure higher levels of inclusion.