Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has welcomed the Post Office’s five-year contract to support the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in issuing photographic driving licences. Mandelson, whose plan to partially privatise the Royal Mail has drawn criticism, said on March 23: ‘I strongly believe that if the right steps are taken there is a positive future for the network. But nostalgia is not a currency that will enable the Post Office to thrive. It must innovate, look to the future and identify new opportunities and new ways of doing business.’ The announcement will enable a large number of Post Offices to act as one-stop-shops for drivers to renew photographs on their licences. The government is currently providing up to £1.7bn of funding to the Post Office, including £150m a year to help support a network of around 11,500 branches.
The chair of the Local Government Association has called for the government to refrain from exercising its powers to cap council tax. In a letter sent to local government minister John Healey, Margaret Eaton praised councils for their ‘outstanding achievement’ in keeping average council tax increases to a predicted 3%. ‘I would… expect that, as a consequence, you will announce that you have decided not to exercise your capping powers in 2009/10,’ she wrote. A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said that the department would publish the annual council tax statistics for England on March 26. ‘Any decisions on capping in 2009/10 will be announced in due course,’ she added.
Wales has made disappointing progress in treating people with chronic conditions outside of hospital, AMs have said. The Welsh Assembly audit committee said the government had failed to provide more services in the community in the treatment of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, emphysema or heart disease, despite spending £15m. The committee chair, Conservative AM Jonathan Morgan, said there was a continued reliance on the acute hospital sector to manage chronic conditions. ‘The factors behind hospital admissions are poorly understood and community services, which are intended to reduce the reliance on acute hospitals, are fragmented with gaps and inconsistencies in cover.’ Morgan said services were poorly co-ordinated, with resources not used effectively.
The Audit Commission is to share its offices at Millbank Tower in Westminster with other organisations in a move that it estimates will save £20.1m over nine years. The Charity Commission will be the first to move into the redesigned office space. Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said: ‘This is a good deal for both commissions, and a very good discipline for Audit Commission staff to make the most efficient use of our central London office space.’ Andrew Hind, the Charity Commission chief executive, said: ‘We believe this location provides the best and most responsible use of our resources and will save the Charity Commission an estimated £13.1m in running costs over a nine-year period.’
Community sentences are not meeting their potential to keep offenders with mental health problems out of prison, according to a Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health report. The report, A missed opportunity?, published on March 23, shows that few people are given a Mental Health Treatment Requirement by the courts because it is poorly understood and prone to long delays. Sainsbury Centre head of research Chiara Samele said: ‘A lack of communication between health, probation and court staff is leaving people who could be diverted from prison languishing in custody.’
