More detail has emerged about the new ‘countryside agency’ due to start next April following the merger of the Countryside Commission and Rural Development Commission.The new merged agency will have 350 expert staff from the two existing organisations and a budget of around 50 million pounds - a five per cent increase on previously. 

New research has highlighted lessons for policy-makers to be learned in targeting funds for rural regeneration.The Economic and Social Research Council has found that an initiative begun by the previous Government but still operating, has resulted largely in disappointment and division within communities. 

The Government says latest information on households on below average incomes backs up the urgent need for its New Deal policies.The Households Below Average Incomes (HBAI) report is the main source of official statistics on those with low incomes.
The latest issue shows that while average real incomes have increased by a little over 40% since 1979, those at the top of the scale have experienced much greater rises than those at the bottom. 

New guidance from the Government aims to help councils reach out to their communities and implement new ways of involving the public in decision taking.Against a background of low-turn out at council elections, the Government has challenged local government to be more interesting and more accountable. Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong says the new Guidance on Enhancing Public Participation in Local Government is about giving local councils the toolkit to achieve these challenges. 

The Government is considering introducing a single telephone number to put patients in touch with the full range of NHS services from anywhere in the country.Patients will still be able to ring their local hospital or GP’s surgery directly, but when the new NHS Direct telephone helpline goes national in the year 2000, Ministers hope that it could be used for more than advice.
Health Minister Alan Milburn said that NHS Direct was already proving its worth. 

A series of directories listing detailed information on health initiatives for black and minority ethnic groups has been launched by the Health Department.They are part of the Government’s programme to ensure the health needs of the diverse ethnic minority population are recognised and met. 

The body that represents housing associations has given strong support to many of the Government’s proposals for welfare reform outlined earlier this summer in its green paper ‘New Contract for Welfare’.But the National Housing Federation says the single biggest obstacle to reform is the current regulation around housing benefit.
It says that the benefit, which helps pay the housing costs of families with low incomes, needs simplifying. 

Tony Blair should mobilise world leaders to set up a World Financial Authority to deal with the worsening global crisis, according to a report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research.The report calls for a body to help develop policies to manage risk in the unstable world economy. Its objectives would include a requirement to pursue policies to maintain high rates of growth and employment. 

A team from the University of Westminster is to study how local transport and health workers can work together more effectively.The study is commissioned jointly by the Department of Health and the Health Education Authority, in consultation with the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.
It is anticipated that the findings will lead to new guidance to field workers in both disciplines in the Spring. 

The housing sector has been challenged to make a new voluntary system work, or see regulation.Private tenants who face problems getting their deposit back at the end of their tenancy will be the beneficiaries of a voluntary rent deposit scheme to hold the money in third-party safe-keeping. Organisations representing landlords and tenants are being invited to set the scheme up.