The new coalition government promises a very different approach to public services and the relationship between state and individual, but will be grappling with a huge budget deficit. What are the implications for the management of information, the effective use of technology and efficient service delivery in the public sector? Are the prospects grim, or is there in fact an opportunity to do things better and save costs?

Saving substantial sums of money must be at the forefront of every public sector manager’s thinking, and ICT is the enabler for almost every solution from customer self-service and shared services to flexible working and radical service redesign. The promise is there, but how to guarantee the benefits?

In an effort to make “Learning” more focused on the specific needs of our membership, we have reviewed our course offerings and launched a completely new programme for the next 12 months. The new programme offers a wider range of course, at more locations, and with more detail provided on each, to help you judge better who to nominate for the course, and the likely benefits to be achieved from it.

"Once processes are more efficient, the realisation of benefits, eg cash savings, needs to be managed to ensure actual achievement"