Key workers like firemen, nurses and teachers are an easy target for thieves according to new research today that shows theft in the workplace has cost Britain’s public service workers an estimated 96 million pounds over the last three years.The research from the insurance group Zurich shows that personal theft while at work is a problem for key workers because of the public nature of their jobs. The study shows that one in twenty of those surveyed had had a personal item stolen.

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Voluntary organisations and charities will today call on Labour party policy makers and parliamentary candidates to recognise the value that volunteers bring to society. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is to use the Labour Conference in Brighton to showcase its own election manifesto, which will then go out to its members for consultation.NCVO is urging the next government to lend stronger support to the role of charities in building community cohesion and encouraging civil engagement. It also wants politicians to build on existing support for the voluntary sector’s role in the delivery of public services.

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This report from the Public Accounts Committee examines the progress of the pilot programme launched in 1999 to give local communities a much greater influence in the way in which funds are used to achieve neighbourhood renewal. Unlike previous regeneration programmes where monies were paid to central and local government bodies to deliver regeneration, in this programme the monies have been given directly to neighbourhoods for them to manage through a Board made up of local representatives. This allows the communities to purchase services to meet their regeneration needs in accordance with their priorities. The approach is being tested in 39 neighbourhoods across the country and is expected to cost some £2 billion over 10 years.The committee found that the programme was one of more than fifty different initiatives with separate funding streams and they called for a streamlining. Although the programme is still at a relatively early stage there are examples of effective neighbourhood renewal arising from this new approach. But equally, some tensions have developed between some New Deal for Community partnerships, their communities and local authorities that need to be addressed if further progress is to be ensured.

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