The need for careful planning and supervision is crucial, and our new Business Strategy and Planning Unit will help us to look critically at the services which we provide in order to ensure that we deliver appropriate high standard services to our customers. In 1998 we published guidance for charities entering into contracts with public bodies to deliver statutory services on behalf of those bodies. During the year many of our publications became available on audio-cassette. We issued over 560,000 publications in both English and Welsh, and nearly 4,000 audio tapes and Braille editions. We have also recently published guidance leaflets for trustees in several ethnic minority languages.
Many publications are accessible on the Internet.
In addition to information from the Register of charities , our website includes advice on a wide range of issues. The site attracted nearly 1.5 million hits in 1998. Information from the Register is available on our website, from our Central Register helpline, or by visiting our offices. Both lines are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm. We will be issuing papers on the position of users or beneficiaries acting as trustees, and on the remuneration of trustees.