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. 

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.
Transforming services is only part of the challenge. The other part is to transform thinking. 

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.
The new study, ‘Women in Headship’, published today by the National College For School Leadership, finds that eight out of ten of England’s 13,800 female heads believe more women should take on the role. 

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. 

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. 

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.
Sir Simon said, “At first look, the Budget gives little relief to town halls struggling to balance the books. 

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.
Nottingham City Council says the gardens are now a rare green space in an area of high density inner city housing. 

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.
This comprehensive study tracked five organisations over a five year period.