Thought it worth summarising the recent changes in central government that have a bearing on local government. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has been changed into the new Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)The Rt…
I regret it’s been a while since I posted a blog, but been somewhat under the weather. Still, didn’t want to miss saying something about the recent publication from the Local Government Association entitled ‘Closer to People and PLaces’. Quoted as…
Interesting issue that I guess I should have picked up on before, since I’ll usually jump onto any bandwagon that means justice and value for the ordinary citizen, but The Guardian are running a campaign to make public-funded information freely av…
Appointment: Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Thank you for accepting the new post of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. I am writing to set out the challenges ahead for Government and in particular for…
Well, just as David Milliband was getting to grips with his brief for the local government sector (and not doing that bad a job actually), it’s a case of stirring up the gene pool again and ensuring that policy and strategy remains as opaque (no…..
Attended my first CKO Public Sector Summit, held at the Bath Priory, on 23-25th April 2006. This was the 5th year for the event , organised by TFPL and sponsored this year by Thomson Sweet & Maxwell. There were quite a few ‘old’ hands there who ha…
Came across an interesting web site the other day – Demos – which provides a refreshing perspective on e-democracy and empowement of us ordinary citizens. Was thinking of popping along to an event they are running on Thursday 11 May (Demos, 136 To…
Briefly checked out a new (? – well, new to me anyway) community web site at www.myplace.com. looks pretty neat and has some rich functionality – blogs, etc. I’m sure it could be adapted for business purposes, e.g. for developing public sector com…
Interesting fact: eGMS – so much for the government’s “mandatory” metadata requirement; 73% of central and 42% of local government websites fail the requirements on every single page, including important sites such as direct.gov.uk, the Cabinet Of…
