Government plans to personalise public services, which would involve greater sharing of information about people, should be resisted says a report published today. In ‘Who do they think we are? Government’s hidden agenda to control our lives’, Jill Kirby, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, says the Government’s Information Sharing vision statement set out in September 2006 now has a hollow ring to it.

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Twenty-five local authorities are to pilot a scheme to give better support to children whose mental health is at risk. The councils will take part in the Targeted Mental Health in Schools project and try new ways of improving services to vulnerable pupils.

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By Paul Skidmore, Kirsten Bound and Hannah Lownsbrough

Social networks enable citizens and communities to access social capital which in turn provides people with the resources to work together and tackle problems for themselves. Improving social outcomes in this way is more effective, more legitimate and cheaper, than traditional public service delivery. The authors look at the problems of engaging people in governance and developing relationships. They offer suggestions for promoting civic engagement and linking social capital.
The researchers designed an intensive case-study process, focusing on two demographically similar wards – Ely and Careau in Cardiff, and Benchill in Wythenshawe, Manchester. They spoke to people involved in community projects in a range of different ways, drawing out the key themes affecting governance in each area. The two wards are amongst the poorest in the UK, according to the EU Indices of Deprivation. Both have high levels of economic and social deprivation and have been the target of initiatives aiming to tackle the resulting challenges.

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