By David Panter. Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. ‘Hard’ targets are the key lever to the delivery agenda, but they only measure the past. David Panter from his experience of managing Brighton and Hove Council argues that leadership and values are vital in delivering the future and he makes a plea for their inclusion as performance indicators.

The need to train numbers of people at different locations following changes in legislation is a common problem across the public services. This article describes how the Crown Prosecution Service used e-learning as a key component to meet the challenge of training lawyers and case workers in preparation for new legislation about the treatment of vulnerable or intimidated witnesses.

By John Bynner, Peter Elias, Abigail McKnight, Huiqi Pan and Gaelle Pierre. Substantial changes in the British labour market over the past twenty-five years, including transformations driven by technology, education, training, and recruitment have had a significant impact on 16 – 24 year olds. The authors chart theses changes and the impact on the lives of young people. They reveal a growing gap between the better and the worse off and a rise in depression among the marginalized group of early school leavers. They call for a re-think of initiatives for supporting young people.

By Stephen P Osborne, Rona S Beattie and Arthur P Williamson. To function successfully regeneration partnerships must involve local communities. The authors found that views about the level of involvement in rural areas are too optimistic. They set out the barriers to involvement and outline the components of good practice that would enhance community learning and promote the sustainability of community involvement in rural regeneration partnerships.

By Brian Gosschalk Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. Measuring the satisfaction of citizens with public services is an inexact science. Brian Gosschalk, Chief Executive of MORI, analyses the conflicting picture from attitude surveys. He concludes that because perception rather than reality determines public reaction, communicating success is crucially important.

By Tony Grace The Broadband Britain campaign commits the Government to install broadband into every public service site in the UK. The focus now is to connect entire communities to bring the benefits of downloading text, images and sound to local people. The author gives a picture of what has been achieved so far and the direction the technology is moving.

By Philip Taylor The lower birthrate and increased life expectancy are causing a re-think about the employment of older workers. In many countries centrally driven policies to encourage people to work longer are producing very limited results. The author calls for policies to be integrated at the centre of government and for a bottom up approach to implementing change involving local government, employer groups, trade unions and organisations working on age issues.

By Mick Davies. Reproduced by permission of eGov Monitor Weekly. Councils have joined together to form LASSEO, the Local Authority Smartcard Standards E-Organisation. The author outlines how the application of smartcard technology is progressing rapidly. The challenge is to focus on the needs of the citizen and bring together services and providers.

By Jeremy Long Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. Although the railway industry is hardly an exemplar of service delivery, there are lessons the public sector can learn from its experience. Jeremy Long, the Chief Executive GB Railways, draws out some of the learning such as working with communities and listening to what customers want.

By Denis O’Connor Reproduced by permission of the Public Management and Policy Association. Defining what the public expect the police to deliver depends on whose views are being sought. Denis O’Connor, Chief Constable of Surrey Police, describes the dilemma facing police management when different people want different things. Performance indicators are not the answer. He provocatively suggests that the solution may include changing people’s perceptions.