Scottish style e-petitions should be used by all local authorities to engage people in local politics according to a report from the New Local Government Network. Its paper says allowing local people to petition councils to debate and review spending and policy commitments would give citizens direct influence over the way local services are delivered.

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Councils are calling for a radical overhaul of the system for supporting unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum. In a response to the consultation process, ‘Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children’, the Local Government Association branded present arrangements unfair.

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By Jacquie Mutter.

Qualifications are important when offenders re-enter the world of work, but certificates are only given for academic achievement whilst in prison or on probation. This is changing with the Skillstrain project being trialled by the Qualifications Curriculum Authority, who are responsible for accrediting qualifications in colleges and at work. The author describes how many offenders who have acquired learning and skills through a wide range of activities in workshops, industries, libraries, gyms and other areas of the prisons, are now able to receive formal recognition for their achievements. She demonstrates how having achievements recognised is hugely motivating for the offenders and can go a long way in helping them break the cycle of leaving prison and re-offending.

Read more on RECOGNISING THE SKILLS OF OFFENDERS IN PRISON AND ON PROBATION…