This report from the Audit Commission reveals that a recent poll of local government services found that the public want more responsive public sector services and they want to see more choice of provider and of services as a way of getting them. They also want high universal standards, not a postcode lottery. But there is a debate about whether greater choice is the right approach to improving public services. The two sides have taken entrenched positions with little movement into the no man’s land between them. The poll also clearly demonstrated that there was no enthusiasm for paying more for choice through higher taxes. More is being invested in public services, so the issue is how can greater choice be introduced in a way which gives good value for money and, arguably, better value for money than other ways of seeking improvement.The challenges are to ensure that greater choice is matched with greater fairness; to remove practical barriers, such as those preventing greater use of direct payments for people receiving social care, and to manage the limitations of choice in producing more responsive services.
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has become the first local authority in England to sign an ambitious agreement that could be worth more than six million pounds for local services if it achieves certain performance targets.The deal is the first to be reached under the second generation of the Local Public Service Agreement scheme launched by the government at the end of last year. The idea is to give councils more leeway to set targets based on their priorities for improvement locally, rather than having national goals set by central government. Authorities that meet the performance targets earn a reward grant equivalent to two and a half per cent of the authority’s budget for one year.
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The National Health Service is being warned today to be cautious in introducing new ‘case management’ initiatives in helping older people with long-term health conditions stay out of hospital. The advice comes in a report from the King’s Fund, which says evidence on the effectiveness of such measures is weak.The report studies the evidence behind government moves to get all Primary Care Trusts in England to establish case management programmes by 2008. Case management, it explains, involves providing tailored-care to those people seen to be at most at risk of hospital admission. It is an important weapon in efforts to cut emergency hospital bed days by five per cent from next year. Ministers favour a nurse-led case management approach and one such scheme is already being piloted in nine primary care trusts. Three thousand community matrons will be recruited to extend this work across the country.
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A former International Monetary Fund economist says today that the British government is wrong to hold to the idea that cutting public spending – and tax – would damage public services. Professor Vito Tanzi says the 21st Century has begun with some of the highest levels of public spending and the taxes needed to pay for them.In a pamphlet published by Politeia the professor, who was Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF for 19 years from 1981, asks if governments will now bow to the political and economic case for cutting?
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A successful partnership has won the Royal National Institute for Deaf People an award as Most Innovative Charity. It is in recognition of its work in modernising National Health Service audiology services. The partnership work was recognised at the Third Sector awards.As a result of RNID campaigns 125 million pounds was committed to modernising services in England over five years. Ministers asked the charity to manage the programme in partnership with the Department of Health. It was the first time a voluntary organisation had been asked to form a management partnership to deliver major change within the NHS. One key success of the modernisation has been a big reduction in the price of digital hearing aids by improving procurement methods.
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This toolkit is a practical ‘how to guide’ which draws on experience from the Department of Health’s scrutiny working party, and from supporting local councils and their health partners. It describes the opportunities and challenges of health scrutiny. It also explains the background to the new health scrutiny role and how to prepare for the function. Each section contains practical tools. including checklist, case studies, resource lists and summary boxes, to help work through the process.Published by the Democratic Health Network. 15 pounds. Available from Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN. Phone: 0845 458 9910 Email mailto:mo@centralbooks.com
Town planners are being reminded today that green spaces in urban areas are not created just by professional designers but also by ordinary residents and by the variety of plants, insects, animals and birds that make a home in cities and towns. The message is contained in new research sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council.The study, led by Oxford Professor Sarah Whatmore and Dr Steve Hinchliffe at the Open University, says that what makes urban green spaces green is that they are ‘living’ and this fact, more-than-human interactivity, is key to understanding what makes cities habitable. The researchers say that over the past decade, the ecology of Britain’s urban areas has gained the kind of conservation significance once only found in rural and sparsely populated regions. Scientists, they believe, now recognise that cities sustain important communities of plants and animals and that urban wildlife groups, amateur naturalists and voluntary organisations have played an important part in bringing about this change.
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The voluntary and community sector is to get more money to help it carry out vital work in reusing, recycling and composting waste. Most of the four million pounds funding from the Department for the Environment Food and Agriculture will be used to help organisations develop partnerships with local authorities and share their expertise.DEFRA says many services that are now widespread, such as kerbside collection of material for recycling, were pioneered by the community sector. It is also involved in projects including the collection of unwanted furniture for distribution to low income families and community composting schemes.
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By Ian Quanstrom In January 2005 the inner workings of public bodies will be open to public gaze: lobby groups, media, campaigners and dissatisfied customers, will be able to scrutinise thinking leading up to a decision. In most organizations the warning has gone out that staff must assume that every e-mail they write will be disclosable. The author looks at the challenge of changing the mindset from one of non-disclosure to total transparency as the masses track what civil servants, council officials and others are doing on their behalf.
The survey was carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the term e-learning being adopted. E-learning is now accepted as an essential feature of training delivery, but more practical work needs to be done on the implementation side if it is to be successful. Organisations need to address the implementation of e-learning to ensure they have support from line-managers and to develop a structure that meets the needs of both the organisation and the employees. Some organisations are taking positive steps to ensure e-learning works, with 57 per cent of respondents developing customised modules tailor-made for their organisation’s needs, rather than relying on generic, off the shelf packages.The survey found that 80% believe e-learning is more effective when combined with more traditional forms of learning and that usage will have doubled in three years time. CD-ROMs remain the most popular method of delivery of e-learning, with 73% of respondents using them. 69% believe e-learning demands an entirely new skill set for people involved in training and development.