Labour's home delivery service.

Labour must be transformed into a movement right across Wales, not a periodic party machine that kicks into action when there's an election to be won.

It was Peter Hain doing the talking at the party's Spring conference over the weekend. Plaid, he said, are "drifting". They have nowhere to go other than independence and people don't want that. The Liberal Democrats, the "Tories' little helpers" will get what they deserve come May's local elections. So Labour must re-establish itself as the sole party capable of leading the progressive left, to take on the Tories.

The audience at the Progress fringe meeting liked that - a lot. In private many of those who've been knocking doors ahead of May 3rd are playing down the chances of huge Labour gains. The core Tory vote in Wales seems solid, why wouldn't it be? Plaid will probably do ok-ish. The Lib Dems probably won't but that doesn't amount to a feeling on those doorsteps of Labour making huge strides. They'll do well, much better than last time, goes the argument but just as Labour 'should have' won a majority last May and didn't, don't expect a series of slam dunk victories this May.

Ask why that should be and the gist of the answer is this - delivery is the right message. On the doorsteps people need to see more of it.

The bit they liked most at the fringe meeting - or at least, the bit where they couldn't help, many of them, but blurt out what sounded like a slightly disloyal 'mmmmm' of agreement was when Mr Hain warned that Carwyn Jones' government is facing a very real danger, "one we've fallen into before in Westminster". That danger is of "becoming more and more managerial". The longer we're in power, the more we've got to guard against it, said Mr Hain. We've got to be clear what we're about, musn't lose touch with our supporters. Delivery is the right message.

His audience agreed.

There was an honourable mention of the Education Minister, Leighton Andrews and the Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths. They were doing what they could to deliver real change. That word again: deliver.

So what have the two days since delegates went home delivered? Two big signs that this government is facing big challenges.

Yesterday Mr Andrews came out, stood in front of the cameras and the microphones and took the flak over his decision to put on hold plans to band Wales' primary schools.

Why the delay? Because the minister had accepted what the Chief Inspector of schools had told him: that relying on assessments as carried out by teachers wasn't good enough. Things must be fair, must be seen to be fair and consistent. So, to put the policy back on course, 8 years after SATS tests for 11 year olds were scrapped, national numeracy and literacy tests will be introduced again.

This was not, said Mr Andrews, a U-turn. He had listened to expert advice and acted on it. The policy is alive and kicking, not kicked into touch. It helped, rather a lot, that the unions responded as one to applaud him, even if the union representative on last night's news bulletin chose to "congratulate the minister on his U-turn".

Today the focus is on health.

Here's a numeracy test for you in passing: what does it take to cut a total projected deficit for Wales' Local Health Boards of between £27m and £45m last month, down to £12.5m now?

The answer, according to members of the Public Accounts Committee this morning, is "hitting the panic button", suspending services, echoing the "slash and burn" warning made by the BMA last week.

Plaid Cymru says there's been "shambolic mismanagement" of health funding over the years. "It would appear" says Ieuan Wyn Jones "that nobody seems to be getting to grips with the situation".

How did it make sense, asked North Wales Lib Dem AM Aled Roberts, to temporarily close four facilities in the region, in part because of the need to break even financially. "Is that practice widespread? ... If a service is there ... it doesn't seem to make sense to close it down for three months just to balance your books."

Finance had to be "put alongside the quality requirements of our areas" said Dr Andrew Goodall from the NHS Confederation. And listen carefully - the projected deficit of £12.5 million will be met by March 31st. Again, the service will "collectively" break even by then. In other words if some LHBs fail to balance the books, others will have to make up for it. You decide in which area you'd rather live.

The government would doubtless remind you that doctors, at least, have decided by a vast majority that they'd rather live and work here in Wales than in England.

And it's just Tuesday. Tomorrow, AWEMA will be back on the agenda, another reminder that whether we like it or not, an awful lot of government these days seems to to have an awful lot to do with - management.