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Older people (particularly 75 years+) are the main users of health and social care services. They are also the age group most likely to occupy non‐decent homes. Government health and social care policy is increasingly focused on enabling more older people to remain living independently in their own homes and on delivery of care ‘at or closer to home’. This article considers how greater recognition of the negative impacts of poor‐quality and inappropriate housing on older people's health and well‐being, combined with targeted housing repair and adaptation assistance, could contribute to achieving a range of current health and social care objectives, including enabling older people to live independently in mainstream housing and better management of chronic health conditions.

The Government's drive to improve the overall health of the population, by tackling health inequalities and measures such as reducing falls and ending fuel poverty, has created a policy framework to address the housing related aspects of health. Opportunities for the NHS and local authorities to work with the voluntary sector to achieve these aims mean that there are new possibilities for wide‐ranging, innovative responses to improving people's health by tackling housing issues.Care & Repair England has undertaken research which examines how home improvement agencies (HIAs) are working with health‐sector partners to bring about health improvement through housing‐related initiatives and services.The resulting report, Healthy Homes, Healthier Lives, brings together key evidence that demonstrates the beneficial impact of improved housing conditions on health and examines the current policy context. A spectrum of joint projects is profiled including schemes providing information and training for health and care sector staff, a range of joint approaches to falls prevention, hospital discharge services and initiatives to address fuel poverty and cold, damp housing.

The vast majority of older people (90%) live in the general housing stock and 70% are owneroccupiers. One of the major challenges for planners in the housing, health and social care sectors is the development of a coherent joint strategy which enables older people to live independently in their own homes. Home improvement agencies (HIAs) aim to meet the housing and related support needs of mainly older home‐owners. Research carried out by Care and Repair England has been tracking and studying the diversification of HIAs into services areas which ‘cross the housing and care divide’. The results of this work have recently been published. They demonstrate both the range and the extent of new service provision by HIAs and its value both to older people wishing to ‘stay put’ and to planners charged with implementing cross‐sector work and prevention strategies.

Government and IT ‐ In spite of all the lip service paid by Government to making a business of information and encouraging increases in the amount of information available online, the Department of Trade is still indulging in foot dragging about online access to tradenames. Since 1979, tradenames have been held on computer and I was told in that year (NLW, November 1979) by the Department of Trade that an index to tradenames would be produced shortly and sold to libraries and others on COM‐fiche. Now two computer indexes are poised for the public market, but it seems the Department of Trade is once again playing a will we? won't we? game, because if the Department went online, the others might not bother. The first independent computer data base is with Datema Limited who have carried out very successful field trials with Laurence Tagg in Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne Business Library, as well as at Sheffield and the Science Reference Library; the second data base is with Compu‐Mark (UK) Limited in London.

CONCLUDING THAT much of the ennui which afflicted me during 1980 must have been due to my forfeiture of the mid‐winter skiing holiday to which I have become accustomed in recent years, I have arranged to be back among the mountains of Austria at the time when this issue of NLW is committed to the mercies of the postal services. (Postage rates having just gone up, do let me know if your copy reaches you earlier than usual — that would be called ‘productivity’!).

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

Directors help determine the strategic direction of a corporation and are responsible for ensuring the institution has a good system of internal control. Banking institutions without a strategic direction emphasizing sound lending practices that promote the long-run financial health and viability of the institution will be sued more frequently than peer institutions. Institutions that do not have a good system of internal control will also be sued more frequently. Hence, legal expense is a bank corporate governance measure. We compare the performance of bank legal expense and a widely cited corporate governance index in a regression framework to determine which better predicts bank performance. The regressions indicate legal expense is a much better predictor, hence a better measure of bank corporate governance. Regulators should require legal expense reporting and rank institutions by the ratio of legal expense to assets to help identify institutions with weak governance. Seven case studies illustrate the role of legal expense in corporate governance.