A commission has been set up to investigate whether new City Regions could form the basis of the future shape of local government. The independent think tank, the New Local Government Network has launched the commission to explore the best way forward for strategic government in England. It will look at new structures following the ‘No’ vote in the referendum over a Regional Assembly for the North East and the Network’s research into making multi-level governance work.The NLGN City Regions Commission brings together experts from inside and outside local government. They will oversee seminars, run evidence sessions and conduct their own research. Their findings will be published in the summer.

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A specialist training programme run by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has become the first to be awarded the highest grade 1 “outstanding” for its approach to equality of opportunity by the Adult Learning Inspectorate. The council also becomes the first local authority provider of Workstep to get a grade 1 rating for any aspect of its programme and the first ever provider working with all disabilities to get the highest grade.Only one other Workstep provider in the country – the Royal London Society for the Blind – has ever been awarded the top grade for any aspect of provision. There are 2,000 organisations delivering the schemes across England and Wales and the council’s achievement is the more remarkable because more than half the Inspectorate’s assessments so far have resulted in re-inspections.

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By Chris Philp and Aaron SmithThis Policy Brief from The Bow Group shows that UK Healthcare continues to be much worse than in Europe. 323 lives are lost per day because the best European standards are not being matched in the three main killers – heart disease, respiratory disease and cancer. Looking at trends over time, there has been no significant improvement over the last 7 years. The UK is bottom of the league table of Western European countries for cancer survival rates.

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