Mr Tony Blair will be under no illusions about his priorities in a second-term Labour government. Having spent the election campaign promising dramatic improvements in public services, he cannot afford to waste a moment.
However, the unions are unhappy with his eagerness to use the private sector to drive up standards in schools and hospitals, and they plan to use the autumn conference season to voice their anger. Industrial action is not ruled out. The unions want reassurance that their members will keep National Health Service conditions of employment if they work in privately financed hospitals. Labour says it will "seek ways" to keep support staff within NHS teams. The unions want the details.
New contracts are being negotiated with family doctors and hospital consultants, with both groups determined to keep as much control over their working lives as they can. Family doctors threaten more industrial action and consultants are warning of mass defection to the private sector.
Health has been Mr Blair's priority for the past year, so the plan and team he wants, including Mr Alan Milburn as health secretary, is in place. However, elsewhere there will be changes to the cabinet, and restructuring of government departments are top of Mr Blair's in-tray.
Mr David Blunkett, the education secretary, looks set for a move to the Home Office, and his old post looks certain to fall to Ms Estelle Morris, his current deputy.
The new home secretary will head sweeping reforms, from which the government shied away in its first term, to the police and the criminal justice system. The former incumbent, Mr Jack Straw, looks likely to head for the Department of Transport and Environment. Despite enormous public dissatisfaction with Britain's roads and railways, the issue barely featured in the election.
A new Department for Rural Affairs will replace the Ministry for Agriculture, and a Department of Working Life will replace the Department for Social Security. Mr Andrew Smith, chief secretary to the Treasury, is tipped for Rural Affairs, and Mr Alistair Darling for Working Life.