A group of heads and leading teachers who are experts in school discipline have held their first meeting to find ways to press home the drive to tackle pupil behaviour. The Expert Group is chaired by Sir Alan Steer of the Seven Kings High School, Ilford. Its task is to advise the Government on how effective school discipline reaches every classroom, how to improve parental responsibility for their children’s behaviour and deliver a culture of respect in all schools.The Group will draw on the approaches currently used by successful schools, including ways to build up effective collaboration between schools. They will consider whether teachers need further support through initial training or professional development in managing behaviour and whether a national code on behaviour setting out the responsibilities of schools, pupils and parents in promoting good behaviour would be helpful. They will also look at the scope for policy developments and new powers for head teachers which would help in enforcing school discipline. They will focus on practical proposals in those areas which are likely to have the most significant impact on behaviour in schools.
This Guide from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence sets out a systematic method for reviewing the health issues facing a population, leading to agreed priorities and resource allocation that will improve health and reduce inequalities. It can be used to provide evidence about a population on which to plan services and address health inequalities. It provides an aid for cross-sectoral partnership working and developing creative and effective interventions.The government is committed to reducing health inequalities by 10% by 2010 as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth.
As a result of efforts by Arson Task Forces, cars clear schemes and other local arson reduction projects the number of arson attacks has fallen by 18%. The Task Forces are made up from police fire and rescue services and local authorities. Arson causes 100 needless deaths and 2,500 injuries a year. Motives range from revenge, fraud, and crime concealment to simple vandalism. The poorest communities are hardest hit, with those on low incomes 31 times more likely to be affected by deliberate fire-setting and sixteen times more likely to die as a result of such a fire. The annual cost of arson is estimated at 2.8 billion pounds.The majority of arson attacks appear to be committed by a small group of prolific offenders, many of whom are under 18 and also commit other offences. Fire and rescue services across the country already undertake some youth intervention work targeted at children with an excessive interest in fire-play or adolescents whose fire-setting behaviour is linked to other forms of anti-social behaviour such as vandalism.
Sir Andrew Turnbull, Head of the Civil Service, has unveiled the national School For Government and the role it will play in modernising public services and in driving the Civil Service reform agenda. The structure and functions of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies, formerly the Civil Service College, which is based in Ascot Berkshire, have been completely re-vamped to form the National School. There will be a new emphasis on the needs of the wider public sector and the capacity of the organisation will be developed by drawing on experience from other organisations such as the local government leadership centre and academic institutions in the UK and abroad. The changes will mean an end to the ‘Argos’ type catalogue of courses formerly offered by the Centre and new forms of learning experiences will be introduced, based on what customers say they want.The School will work in partnership with Warwick Business School to develop leadership and management development programmes for ministers, senior civil servants, and senior policy makers and managers from national and local government, health service, police and education. The programmes will include exchanges with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Copenhagen Business School and the Australian and New Zealand School of Government.
A survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggests organisations are failing to make the most of the technology available. Human resource information systems have the potential to alter the way people management and development professionals work to relieve administrative burdens and allow them more scope to play a strategic role. The Survey finds less than one fifth (16%) of systems were integrated with an organisation-wide IT system.One of the main reasons for introducing HR technology systems is to reduce the administrative burden. However a third of employers believe the reduction in the administrative burden is less than they expected. HR Systems are most likely to be used to monitor absence management (85%), training and development (75%) and reward (75%). These functions were also those most likely to form part of an integrated system. Over a quarter (28%) considered that their system was difficult for the HR department to use.
The water industry watchdog, WaterVoice, is calling for greater use of water metering to help manage future supplies and to meet the demand of the increasing numbers of homes over the next 15 years. Maurice Terry, the WaterVoice Chairman, has challenged the Government and the industry to promote metering more positively to ease the growing strain on water resources in the fastest-developing parts of the country.In England and Wales less than a third of household customers have a water meter. The figures vary between 63 per cent for Tendring Hundred Water, in Essex and 6 per cent for Portsmouth Water. Of the larger supply companies only Anglian Water – 52 per cent – and South West Water – 56 per cent – have a majority of their customers using metered water.
A report today from the family law group, Resolution, is calling for urgent changes to the Child Support Agency to make sure that the money it collects gets to the families who need it most. The reports says that since it was created in 1991 the CSA has lurched from crisis to crisis and is still failing to deliver money to the many lone parents dependent on it.”Reforming the Child Support Agency – putting money where mouths are” says that according to family lawyers children are the biggest losers. The major weakness identified in the report include the complexity and lack of flexibility in the present system and the widening of the CSA ‘net’ in 2003, which, it says, led to more families than ever becoming unnecessarily entangled in the Agency’s bureaucracy.
Public services focus on the most vulnerable older people at times of crisis rather than an approach which enables the wider older population to remain independent for as long as possible and live their lives to the full. A radical change of perspective is needed to meet the challenges of the ageing society. Achieving this wider focus may not cost more because it involves a better use of resources and more effective ways of public services working together in the interests of citizens.
Consulation ends today on the review of the code of conduct for English local councillors to bring it into line with the Freedom of Information Act, introduced at the start of the year. The Standards Board for England has been seeking views on a number of issues, including ‘whistleblowing’.The consultation began in February and the Board sent out more than 62,000 consultation invitations. The responses will be used to help the Board formulate recommendations, which will go to the Office of the Deputy prime Minister.
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Experts are warning today that the European Working Time Directive – introduced last year to reduce working hours as a means of improving health and safety – may be putting doctors’ and patients’ lives at risk.An article in the British Medical Journal, by Professor Roy Pounder and colleagues, says the current NHS shift system could be a threat to safety. The Directive means that junior doctors’ working hours are now limited to a shift of no more than 13 hours followed by a break of at least 11 hours. But a survey in December, by the Royal College of Physicians, found most trainee doctors in National Health Service Trusts were now forced to work a 91-hour week as a series of night shifts. This is due to the move, since the implementation of the Directive, away from working patterns based on an on-call system.
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