An inquiry has begun in Scotland into the provision of housing in rural areas. It will look at a range of issues, including why, in certain country areas, homes are beyond the financial reach of those who need them most.
Members of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Environment Committee are seeking evidence from interested parties from now until early April. 

ICT managers in central government see efficiency as the most important factor in their spending decisions over the next few years, according to a report from Kable, a provider of public sector ICT research. The profile of ICT spend in the years 2010 -2011 shows that efficiency is likely to surpass service levels and budgetary factors in influencing the spend. 

Parents are to get regular electronic reports on their children’s progress in future. Schools Minister Jim Knight has said all secondary schools will be expected to have reporting systems up and running by 2010 with primary schools following two years later. A YouGov study, commissioned by information systems provider Pearson Phoenix, and published separately, found that eight out of ten parents of secondary school pupils said such a service would be helpful. 

More details have been announced of the areas for which the new Homes and Communities Agency will be responsible when it comes into operation in April next year. It is being established to play a leading part in delivering the three million new homes which the Prime Minister has promised will be created by 2020. As well as bringing together responsibility for land and for money to deliver the homes, it will work with local councils on some of England’s 10 new eco towns. 

By Bruce Cooper.
Sharing services between public bodies is a key feature of Transformational Government, the strategy for raising efficiency across the public sector. The benefits of sharing services are widely acknowledged and there are a number of successful programmes to support the rhetoric. But local government is a long way from embracing this approach. 

The Government has been accused of threatening to undermine urban regeneration in the West Midlands. The claim comes from the Campaign to Protect Rural England which fears that having rejected the Regional Assembly’s proposals for 365,000 new homes in the next 20 years Ministers are seeking to increase that figure to 420,000. The Assembly itself is also questioning the Government’s position. 

The Government has repeated its commitment to long-term support for local authorities in those areas that were most badly affected my last summer’s floods. Further payments have been announced for two councils, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough and West Lindsey District, to help with recovery costs. 

This document sets out a vision for major reform of the adult social care system. It presents a shared vision and commitment to the transformation of adult services. The ultimate goal is that every locality will have a single community based support system focused on the health and wellbeing of the local population. This will involve bringing together local Government, primary care, community based health provision, public health and social care. 

Disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty as those without disabilities according to new research from the charity Leonard Cheshire. In a study it found they are also more likely to live in poverty now than was the case a decade ago. 

Local people are being offered the chance to influence Bristol Council’s first ever ‘State of the City’ debate which will take place next week in an effort to define the council’s priorities and shape its Corporate Plan for 2008-09. The debate will occupy the first two hours of next Tuesday’s full meeting of the authority and residents have been invited to submit statements to inform the discussion among the 70 elected members.