Service First: Beacon Schemes - Public and Private Sector

This information is being maintained for archive/historical purposes.
It will not be updated.
Please see http://archive.cabinet-office.gov.uk for details.

The Service First and Modernising Government programmes have now been completed. The information held on this site is no longer being maintained but is retained for archive purposes.

To learn about reform of public services, you may find the following sites useful:

Prime Minister’s Office of Public Service Reform
Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit
Civil Service Reform
Charter Mark Website

If you work in the public sector, you can access our good practice database and other useful information via the Public Sector Benchmarking Service.

Beacon Schemes

Beacon schemes have been introduced in different parts of the public sector to identify first-class performers so that others can learn from their knowledge and experience. This site gives you detailed information on the central government beacon scheme managed by the Cabinet Office, as well as providing links to sites containing detailed information on the other beacon schemes.

The different Beacon schemes

	Central Government - a recently launched scheme that is designed to identify the best performing parts of central government, and to enable others to learn form their experiences.
	Local Council - The Department of Environment and Transport runs a council beacons scheme which aims to raise standards in local government by identifying excellent performing councils and helping them to spread best practice.
	National Health Service - nearly 300 NHS Beacons have been identified, covering areas such as mental health, primary care and health improvement.
	Schools - The Department of Education and Empolyment have identified 550 beacon schools. Beacon schools are schools which have been identified as amongst the best performing in the country and represent examples of successful practice which are to be brought to the attention of the rest of the education service with a view to sharing that practice with others.
	Private Sector Inside UK Enterprise runs a business to business best practice exchange programme. Inside UK Enterprise offers a unique programme of one-day visits to UK companies committed to improving the performance of their businesses through best practice implementation.

To top of page