By Michael Barber. Reproduced by permission of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies. Insights into the way officials in Whitehall craft policies to bring about reform are rare. Michael Barber, The Prime Minister’s Chief Adviser on Delivery sets out the policy making process, with advice for policy makers on how to make it work better. For the wider audience his thoughts reveal the trials and tribulations that policy makers face in turning ideas into practical results.

By John Witty More public services are looking at wireless technology where cable is not practical, too expensive, or where it cannot be delivered quickly enough. Some are deterred from looking because of the misconceptions that surround the technology. The author looks at the concerns expressed about security issues, interference with transmission, weather susceptibility and the health dangers posed by microwaves.

By Sarah del Tufo and Lucy Gaster People experiencing poverty do not influence decision-making and policy. Six grassroots people with direct experience of poverty, and six people in public life were brought together to form the Commission and find out why. The result was a different kind of report, rooted in real experience and in ’street language’, through a different kind of commission process.

By Neil Hollins The development of wireless technology is bringing opportunities to do things in different ways. The author explains how mobile staff in local government can link directly into systems at base, process requests and get information. He also describes an implementation approach.

By Brendan Martin Reproduced by permission of The Catalyst Forum In 1992 the new Mayor Indianapolis was elected on a platform of public service privatization. The initial conflict with the union later turned into a partnership to tackle the problems of the city. The author describes the forces that changed attitudes, the way the partnership works and the success it has achieved.

By Jeremy Cox Call centers in the public and private sectors are designed and managed from a traditional mass-production perspective. This leads to problems such as customer dissatisfaction and high staff turnover. The author looks at the weaknesses of the traditional approach and argues for a re-think of design and management based on a systems perspective.

By Amanda Edwards Reproduced by permission of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies. Modernizing government requires a change in policy making. The Centre for Management and Policy Studies surveyed the way departments are making policy and the author has selected examples of best practice. She also outlines the difficulties facing policy makers and calls for an exchange of ideas and sharing of experiences together with evidence of what works.

Allowing a mobile workforce to access corporate databases was a problem solved many years ago with laptop computers, but an innovative and cheaper option has been developed in New Zealand. Council employees, equipped only with mobile phones, use text messaging to request and receive the data they need. This case study describes how a mobile data server provides the technology and the benefits the system delivers.

By Richard Veryard. Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. The term ‘joining up’ public services severely underestimates the magnitude and complexity of the task. The author outlines some of the important requirements for meeting the challenge of ‘joining up’ services. He looks at the effect of changing relationships between organizations, resisting the temptation to impose solutions, and using technology as a bridge between users and systems. The core of joined up services is about connections between people, both inside and outside government.

Over the last few years, organisations in the public sector have experienced continual and rapid change. With an increasing emphasis on Best Value, organisations have had to look at new and creative ways of working to ensure the delivery of high quality services to the customer.