Over the years we have seen many attempts to introduce new schemes to make real measurable savings in the public sector. If we look at the provision of Leisure facilities in the UK over the last 25 years you will note the unmistakable finger of central government in the pie. Interestingly Leisure provision has never been a statutory requirement for local government but it’s a potential vote winner so they all provide it. The UK went from a “Sport for all” ethos through rounds of CCT (compulsory competitive tendering) as a management solution followed by a “best value” approach and now we have “Trusts” running a great number of our pubic facilities. What has changed? Well the amount of tax paid by the trusts for starters but has the service improved?

The landscape of local government is set to change. The spectre of unitary status hangs over some authorities and many believe that shared services are the more palatable prelude to a single tier local government in the long term. However many issues need to be considered. Currently the political fashion is to opt for shared services but what if this proves unpopular or flawed? If you have dismantled your own infrastructure and service teams what can you return to?

Recently we hear of political unrest in the south west. Southwest One was created to run administration services for Somerset and Taunton Deane councils. However Ian Liddell-Grainger, Tory MP for Bridgwater questioned how the deal was set up. He said it was shrouded in secrecy and he “feared corruption”. Despite this outburst Southwest One has been bolstered by Avon and Somerset Police Authority which has also signed up to the scheme, in a deal worth £185m over 10 years and involving about 600 staff.

In the meantime, the majority of local authorities delay serious investment across the board, whilst they pay lip service to a shared service approach across their departments.  It seems to me that dithering and delaying must be affecting the services provided and the lack of real investment will damage their organisations. It would be far better if Parliament stopped setting up Quangos to provide guidelines and made real decisions about the size and shape of local government.

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AppSwing have taken on a number of students over the years from secondary schools right through to post graduates and it has been a rewarding experience for both parties.

We are currently beginning to look for good candidates for our summer placements. This is an eight week scheme where you would be involved in a real project. Past students have worked on projects that have included or AppSwing Management Console and two proof of concepts for forthcoming tools. If you would be interested in joining us for an exciting summer placement please drop me an email at neil.thompson@appswing.com.

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It is possible to encrypt data on mobile devices through third party tools such as Credant but that put an additional stress on the device itself and also means that the IT team have to install and support the component. Surely a better approach is not to have any data on the device at all? AppSwing have long been advocating this approach with our mobile platform. Taking this approach is the ONLY way of being absolutely certain your data is safe.

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OK, so much for the theory. In practice things are a little different. The software installed without any problems on my Nokia E61. Starting it is easy enough and you get sufficient feedback to know that it has initiated. I then tried to connect via my iPod Touch. This instantly saw my phone (listed as JoikuSpot_00119FFA55…) and connected. I then opened up a web page and was impressed with the speed - however, then I got my first problem. After 30 seconds or so the connection was dropped and I wasn’t able to reconnect without stopping and starting JoikuSpot. This pattern repeat on all the occasions I tried it. I then tried from my Asus EEE PC and while it was able to see the network it was never able to connect. A quick look at the logs indicated that there was a problem getting a DHCP lease. At this point I gave up.

JoikuSpot is a great idea and once it it out of beta and has ironed out the kinks in its service it is going to be great. In the meantime I am going to wait until I get my Nokia N96 before I try again as it is, allegedly, more stable on this platform. Then I look forward to easy surfing wherever I am.

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When I was studying I was lucky enough to gain placements through school (Amey), college (Rutherford/Appleton Labs) and University (IBM). Each provided me with valuable experience about what working life was likely to be like and, in my case, confirmed that I wanted to pursue a career in computing. Knowing how valuable a work placement was to me I wanted to offer similar opportunities to others through AppSwing. To be recognised for the quality of the placements we offer is great and will hopefully help us attract more students in the future.

More information on the awards can be found at: http://www.work-experience.org/ncwe.rd/employers_219.jsp

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More details can be found on our web site and there was also coverage in the local press.

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from all at AppSwing

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You can read the full article here. It may be necessary to register to get full access.

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Following the success of the first event we are now looking to hold a further one this time in the North of England running the same agenda but hopefully attracting those that couldn’t make the journey down to Reading.

For those that missed the event and want to take a closer look at the content the presentations are now available to download from the Agenda page. Keep up-to-date with future AppSwing news and events by signing up for our newsletter.

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