Today’s average age for a councillor has increased to 58.3 from 55.4 ten years ago, councillors are not representative of the electorate and many are retired. The Councillor’s Commission, which reported at the end of 2007, spelt out ways to change who is nominated for election. The Local Government Association and the Improvement and Development Agency have now voiced opposition to these recommendations, but given support to other proposals.
Insurance companies are increasingly using technology to monitor voice patterns and provide clues to possible fraudulent claims. A pilot project involving seven councils has now concluded that the technology is also effective in picking out callers who make potentially false benefit claims.
Read more on TECHNOLOGY FROM INSURANCE WORLD USED TO SPOT BENEFIT FRAUD…
Interventions to reduce crime result in undesigned outcomes and it is important to understand what they are in order to get value for money. Crime reduction is a principal feature of the New Deal for Communities and this report from Communities and Local Government examines how crime is displaced as criminals go for the softer option outside the area of intervention and how benefits can spill out to surrounding areas.