Detailed proposal for changing the way councils deliver services have been announced by Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong. The consultation paper - Modernising local government - puts flesh on the bones of the Best Value initiative launched in June 1997. 

Public Service Minister Dr David Clark has announced a shift in the Government’s strategy to modernise public services. Public bodies will continue to seek ideas for improving efficiency and effectiveness from within the organisation, but in addition, the views of service users will be canvassed to highlight where improvement is needed.A range of research methods will be used to find out views from large-scale surveys to more focused in-depth work. 

The Councils that do better in getting organisations to comply with regulations are those that take businesses on board. This was the message from the Local Business Partnership Annual Conference.Understanding the customer is vital in all businesses, including that of local government. Applying regulations about planning or trading standards to business can be an ineffective and wasteful process if council officers do not understand the businesses they are regulating. 

In a further bid to raise standards, schools and Local Education Authorities are being given the means to assess performance. Inspections by the Office For Standards in Education are carried out at intervals of several years and the new initiative is designed to allow the questions posed in inspections to be raised on an annual basis.Schools will shortly receive ‘School Evaluation Matters’ which sets out criteria and indicators from the OFSTED Framework For Inspection. 

The Select Committee report on the work of the Public Appointments Commission is highly critical of past achievements and future plans. The Commissioner, Sir Len Peach, is responsible for scrutinising appointments to NHS bodies and the larger national quangos. About 5,000 people are appointed to NHS Boards and some 38,000 to the national quangos. 

The Department for Social Security has awarded three contracts for the Benefits Agency Medical Service to the Sema Group. The contracts, which are valued at £305m, will run for 5 years with a 2 year extension clause.The BAMS provides medical advice to the Agency and arranges examinations of claimants for incapacity and disability benefits. The current Civil Service complement includes some 220 doctors and 1,200 administrative staff. 

Two new crime prevention blueprints will help police forces cut crime. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary report ‘Beating Crime’ concludes that although most forces are committed to crime prevention, few are implementing the practical well thought-out solutions needed. 

Board meetings of NHS Trusts must now be open to the public. The Government have placed Trusts on the same footing as other public bodies which are subject to the Admission Act of 1960. The effect of this is that three days’ notice of time and place must be given, and agendas and papers provided. 

Some 70 PFI projects have been given support either in the form of funding or expert help. Those receiving revenue support include nine schools projects; two waste management schemes and the first two libraries to be financed under the PFI.Expert help for projects comes in the form of an input from the Treasury Task Force. They assist in the project development, but their crucial role is in quality assurance, which is the area where earlier projects were weak. 

The debate by MP’s on child support arrangements revealed that the agency is unlikely to survive the current review of its operations. The options are to radically reform the current organisation or to create a new body, completely untainted by its predecessor.The review, which is being conducted by Baroness Hollis, is examining not only the internal workings, but also external factors including the attitudes of parents involved.