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Introduction Consider a hi‐fi loudspeaker manufacturing company acquired on the brink of insolvency by an American multinational. The new owners discover with growing concern that the product range is obsolete, that manufacturing facilities are totally inadequate and that there is a complete absence of any real management substance or structure. They decide on the need to relocate urgently so as to provide continuity of supply at the very high — a market about to shrink at a rate unprecedented in its history.

With continuing pressures for transparency, accountability and value for money, measuring the performance of public sector organisations is attracting increasing academic and management attention. However, little attention appears to have been paid to the performance information needs of stakeholders. This paper describes work with a number of Scottish local authority services to develop an information portfolio that would meet the performance measurement needs of diverse stakeholders. Overall, the approach was found to be useful, allowing services to identify the key stakeholders with an interest in their service's performance, the judgements about performance that each group wanted to make and the key information that stakeholders would need.

The new Labour Government elected in the UK in 1997 has a declared commitment to the modernisation of local government and has proposed radical change to the way councils plan and deliver local services through best value in service delivery. Best value emphasises the role of sound management as a means of delivering service improvements. Best value in Scotland has a core requirement for every council to develop an effective performance management and planning (PMP) framework. The Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland have developed a detailed audit approach to assess and support each council’s progress in developing and improving its PMP framework. The audit specified sets out the key features of a best value service grouped under ten criteria, requires each council service being audited to critically assess their current performance, and requires each service to implement performance improvements that are necessary to deliver best value services. The key findings from the first audit are presented together with an evaluation of councils’ reactions to the audit and an assessment of the contribution of the audit to continuous improvement in Scottish local government.

SINCE the start of jet engine development, one problem has hampered designers and development engineers: the opaque walls of the engine casings. They wanted to ‘look’ through the walls and be able to see and measure the movements of the compressor and turbine tip seals. This would reveal the combustion gas loadings and thermal growths of the components and allow them to configure the seals to reduce gas leakages and increase the efficiency of the engines. If it were possible to see the components moving as an engine and running on a test bed, then the mechanical integrity could be improved to make the engine safer and maintain performance for a longer period.

Sweden, with a 3.4 million labour force, 45 per cent of it in commerce, transport and the service industries, tackles the problem of re‐training in a thoroughly imaginative way, as a film Investment in Manpower (col, 30 min) shows. Their National Labour Board deals with it in the round, fitting the men to the jobs, and treating its material throughout as human beings with modern human needs. There are no age limits, and prejudices about being too old to learn are firmly squashed. Rail fares to attend interview are paid, moving costs met, and grants given to keep the home going while training.

This is a film about the causes of an industrial dispute and has been made for the National Federation of Building Trades Employers in consultation with the National Federation of Construction Unions.

Following the success of the American Physical Science Study Committee Physics Teaching Films, (see page 40, Jan 1963 issue), a new series—the CHEM Study Chemistry Films—is now available in the UK. There is a serious lack of chemistry teaching films at VI form, college and undergraduate levels and this series certainly goes a long way towards filling the gap.

Endeavours to guide managers through the maze of business information. Does not pretend to be a survey of all existing business literature, but provides pointers in three key areas – that of business directories including Internet sources, market information, and company information. Includes some examples of company searches.