Five priorities have been set out for local authorities to deal with workforce challenges. The 2007 Local Government Workforce Strategy has been launched by the Local Government Association, the Improvement and Development Agency and the Local Government Employers and sets out action needed locally, regionally and nationally.

This is the fourth version of the strategy, examining the challenges facing council leaders and chief executives as well as human resources specialists over the next five years.

The priority areas are organisational development to build workforce support for new ways of working; leadership and management development to develop visionary leadership making best use of the political and managerial role in a partnership context; developing skills and knowledge in an innovative, high performance, multi-agency context; working with partners to address skill shortages, promoting careers and addressing diversity issues and reviewing pay and rewards so they reflect new structures and priorities and reinforce high performance. The Strategy also encourages regions and local authorities to come up with appropriate responses to their own workforce challenges.

Simon Milton, Chairman of the LGA, said the strategy was necessary to deliver the sustained transformation needed to achieve faster, fitter, more flexible, citizen focused and personalised local public services. Meanwhile Joan Munro, the national advisor for workforce strategy at the IDeA added, “Providing the best services to residents and making local areas better places to live and work cannot be separated from effective people management. Local government faces many challenges, financially, in terms of targets, and in ways of working, and if they are to succeed there needs to be an understanding of how to achieve a high performing motivated workforce in an increasingly competitive labour market.”

Read more on WORKFORCE STRATEGY SETS OUT PRIORITIES FOR COUNCILS…

By Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos

This book is an essential resource for grassroots organizers and leaders, students of activism and advocacy, and anyone trying to increase the civic participation of ordinary people. The authors share stories and tools from their nationally recognized and award-winning work of building a community-led organization, training community leaders, and conducting campaigns that changed public policy and delivered concrete results to tens of thousands of people.

Read more on TOOLS FOR RADICAL DEMOCRACY…

The Government’s aim to secure greater involvement of the third sector in the delivery of public services has been severely dented in the first test of a major procurement exercise. Only one third sector organisation was successful in securing a contract for the Department for Work and Pension’s pathways to work programme. An independent inquiry found no conspiracy to squeeze out third sector organisations, but practical realities such as the guidance under which those procuring services operate and the scale of risk bidders for contracts are expected to take.

Read more on THIRD SECTOR FAILS IN FIRST MAJOR BID FOR PUBLIC SERVICE CONTRACTS…

Early in 2007 the Commission for Social Care Inspection commissioned a mystery shopping exercise, focusing on local councils to see what information they would give someone about social care services at the first point of contact. The mystery shoppers, posing as people asking about care for an older relative, contacted all 150 councils responsible for social care.

Read more on AN INSPECTOR CALLED – DISGUISED AS A MYSTERY SHOPPER…

This resource pack is intended for those who provide health and social care and it offers a gateway to important information needed to set up or expand a service in the health and social care arena. The pack is also helpful to commissioners of services who want to contract with social enterprises.

Read more on WELCOMING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE HEALTH…

The Civil Service change management programme, known as ‘Capability Reviews’ of departments is slowly delivering results, but there is a risk of the momentum fading with people getting back to doing the day job. A report from the National School for Government sets out an agenda for preventing a tail-off of the change programme which includes looking at the way change has been managed in local government.

Read more on CIVIL SERVICE CHANGE MANAGERS SHOULD LOOK TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT…

As the Government appears to be drawing back from a greater involvement of the private sector in providing public services, with the abandonment of plans for some private treatment centres, a YouGov poll has revealed that the public really prefer local services to be run by social enterprise companies.

Read more on SOCIAL ENTERPRISE COMPANIES PREFERRED TO RUN PUBLIC SERVICES…

By Christine Whatford

Public concern and moral indignation about juvenile crime and disorderly behaviour has led to the demonization of some children. The author shows that this is a handy way of shifting blame for things we see around us that we don’t like, when the root of demonization is social unrest caused by poverty. She explores the way that education is closing the depravation social gap.

The real issue underlying the loss of personal data relating to 7 million families by HM Revenue and Customs in one of trust claims an EU think tank. A key finding of a paper from ECOTEC, funded by the EU Commission, is that the issue of trust in public authorities and technology systems is a major challenge for governments across Europe.

Read more on LOSING DATA IN THE POST IS ABOUT TRUST NOT TECHNOLOGY…

The New Local Government Network has called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to scrap police authorities and return their powers to elected Council Leaders. In a report ‘Your Police or Mine?’ it claims that the changes would not only save millions of pounds which could be pumped into front line policing but also give local people greater influence over local policing.

Read more on CALL TO SCRAP POLICE AUTHORITIES…