By Gary L Sturgess, Briony Smith, Peter May and Alexis Sotiropoulos
The key to value for money in public services lies at the competitive edge. This is the conclusion of a study from the Serco Institute which reviews the financial savings achieved when monopoly services in five sectors -defence, prisons, local government, waste management and health – were exposed to competition, or the prospect of competition.
Regeneration policies are not delivering the expectedresults. British towns and cities in receipt of substantial urban policy funding designed to bring them up to the economic standard are declining. This calls into question the 30bn pounds spent in the last decade on a plethora of urban regeneration schemes delivered by a myriad of different agencies. Policy Exchange, an independent think tank, has looked abroad to find alternatives that could work better. A new report: ‘Success and the city – Learning from international urban policies’ charts a way forward.
Read more on THINK TANK CALLS FOR A RE-THINK ON CITY REGENERATION…
Public services have not been making the transition to provide more innovative and effective outcomes quickly enough. There are examples of innovative thinking, but it’s really only scraping the surface of what could be achieved. This is the view of Tom Watson, Minister for Transformational Government, and over the next few months he plans to help with accelerating the pace of change.
Read more on PACE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT SET TO INCREASE…
The annual pay reward survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development includes responses from the private, public and voluntary sectors covering 2 million employees.
The survey found that one third of respondents have a reward strategy and a further one quarter plan to create one in 2008. Last year 40 per cent of respondents intended to bring in a reward strategy; most have not succeeded so far, indicating that implementing a reward strategy is far from easy.
More women than ever before are becoming headteachers and believe their female teaching colleagues should make the step up. New research shows fewer obstacles to women becoming heads but it also finds that many of them lack the confidence to put themselves forward.
Read more on MORE FEMALE HEADS THAN EVER BUT CONFIDENCE IS STILL BAR TO PROGRESSION…
Steps are being taken to combat the abuse of the disabled parking badges including a call to local authorities to do more to prevent theft and other misuse of the scheme. The Transport Minister Rosie Winterton has announced that new Blue Badges will be issued in a tamper-proof laminated casing as part of the drive.
Read more on CALL TO COUNCILS TO STEP UP ACTION ON ‘BLUE BADGE’ ABUSE…
By Anne E Green and Richard J White.
This article explores how young people’s attitudes towards education, training and work opportunities are shaped by their social networks and attachment to place, and looks at how interventions might widen their horizons and improve their prospects. There are ongoing policy concerns about deprivation of individuals, poverty relating to place and how to transform the prospects of deprived places.
Concentrations of worklessness persist despite a favourable economic climate and policies aimed at helping people to find work. This has provoked an upsurge of interest in the role of geography in the labour market behaviour of people living in deprived areas.
Read more on ATTACHMENT TO PLACE, SOCIAL NETWORKS, MOBILITY AND PROSPECTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE…
The Budget will leave many council leaders scratching their heads over how to deliver better services with less money, according to the Local Government Association. Its chairman, Sir Simon Milton, welcomed the announcements of more money to deal with child poverty and the focus on green issues, but he said Alistair Darling had given little to local authorities.
Britain’s largest and oldest surviving allotment is to be preserved and restored after the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed more funding. St Ann’s Allotments date back to 1830 and now lie within one of the most deprived areas of Nottingham, although they were originally created as detached town gardens for more wealthy families.
Read more on PRESERVATION OF OLDEST ALLOTMENTS BACKED BY LOTTERY FUND…
By Duncan Scott
This report, commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation, has revealed the extent to which Social Enterprises are hard-pressed to achieve financial sustainability. Whilst some Social Enterprises will depend on generating a measure of economic return from their activities, the report finds that there must be consensus within the organisation about the desired balance between economic and social return.
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