This title was first published in 2002: The rise of New Public Management and the fragmentation of agencies that resulted, created unprecedented new tensions and problems in multi-agency work. This book provides a fascinating insight into the workings of a large multi-agency committee, exploring the manner in which different agencies brought their own agendas, organizational structures and world-views to a multi-agency forum and expected working relationships to be relatively problem free. Charting the development of child protection in the UK, it explores the problems and prospects of both multi-agency working and new public management, under the auspices of joint working initiatives. It offers a unique insight into how members of an area child protection committee viewed working with others, drawing on detailed comments and quotes from those directly involved.