THE WEEK'S TOP PUBLIC SECTOR STORIES

Polls say the election is now wide open | Friday, April 23, 2010
General consensus following the second debate among party leaders is that it is definitely a three-horse
race

Government ''broke law'', says PCS | Friday, April 23, 2010

It shouldn't have made cuts to redundancy terms for civil servants without our agreement, says union

Clegg is finding it hot under the spotlight | Thursday, April 22, 2010
Mandelson calls attacks on Lib Dem leader ''disgusting'' but Rifkind calls Mandy ''silly'' and ''juvenile''

NHS cuts ''already damaging services'' | Thursday, April 22, 2010

It is unacceptable that important local services are being cut, says the British Medical Association

Labour lags behind in election polls | Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The latest ComRes polls echo the current Public Servant poll which shows Labour in third place

Public ''not sure it wants power'' | Monday, April 19, 2010

Research by the Hansard Society shows that getting people to play their part could be a painful process

Public finances ''have underperformed'' | Monday, April 19, 2010

Yet by 2007 Labour had reduced public sector borrowing to below the level it inherited from the
Conservatives

Parties ''hiding'' true depth of cuts | Monday, April 19, 2010

The post-election squeeze on public spending will be far greater than political parties are prepared to
admit, says CIPD

Features: 

Only a radical approach will procure the required savings

The government could save billions if it embraced private sector expertise and adopted a more radical
approach to procurement, writes Roger West, former procurement director of NHS Supply Chain and now
head of procurement outsourcing at DHL

Political climate change

The debacle of Copenhagen shows that conventional climate policies have no future and we need
alternative approaches that are politically realistic and economically feasible, writes Dr Benny Peiser,
director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation

This gets my vote – a call to action

As politicians attempt to dance into power without confronting the fundamental issues, prominent figures
working in and alongside the public sector put forward alternative visions for the future that would win their
votes

The public sector doing things differently

The old ways of working in the public sector are unsustainable. Martin Ferguson, Socitm head of policy,
looks to a shift of power and previews Socitm's conference being held today
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/archive_features.asp
e­government:

Socitm reveals technology manifesto | Friday, April 23, 2010

Public sector CIOs have launched a seven point plan for IT in public services

Call for Open Election Data project | Thursday, April 22, 2010
Local government bodies are encouraging councils to share their election data

Lib Dems have most usable website | Wednesday, April 21, 2010
New survey puts them first, the Tories second and Labour down in fifth place

SNP fighting DNA retention reforms | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Plans to bring it in line with the English model are being fought by the party

New EU powers for DNA sampling | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

An EU state could order another to get a DNA sample off a suspected criminal

'Old boys network' in procurement | Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Indian outsourcer says if procurement was more open, Britain could save more

Lord Ashcroft top keyword in debate | Monday, April 19, 2010

Debate Bingo found Lord Ashcroft was the term most expected by players

Features:

The public sector doing things differently

The old ways of working in the public sector are unsustainable. Martin Ferguson, Socitm head of policy,
looks to a shift of power and previews Socitm's conference being held today

Shared services – it takes a lot of skill

Most local authorities want to do it – but not all of them have the expertise the job requires. Mike Lowe
reports from Public Service Events' Shared Services conference

FiReControl just keeps on delivering...disappointment

After the latest condemnation of FiReControl from an influential committee, the Fire Brigades Union's
Sharon Riley, executive council member representing fire controls, tells Mike Lowe why FiReControl is
such a bad idea and how easy it is to do it better

Getting tougher to unlock information

The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has signalled his intent to get tough. He tells Dean
Carroll how this more robust attitude to releasing information is producing results in an era of ''public
service by Facebook''
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/topic_section.asp?topic=e­government