Power is what enables people to live the life they choose. The Map uses an index of 8 measures of power to rank the ability of people across all 628 British constituencies to control their life and influence society – their ‘everyday’ power’. It uses a ‘composite indicator’, bringing the different indicator of citizens’ power together into one overall index. The power score for each constituency is the sum of the eight indicators, with a maximum power score of 100. It divides the results into 5 ‘power leagues’ from Very High to Very Low.
Grants of up to £30,000 are to be given to charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises to improve vital facilities they provide for their communities.
The grants are part of the Capital Investment Programme delivered by Capacitybuilders. They support small scale improvements to resource centres that can make a big difference to services suffering in tough economic times. These small scale changes can provide vital improvements to the quality and accessibility of accommodation or facilities provided by organisations. The funding will, for example, enable them to add additional meeting rooms, improve technology, or provide better access to resources such as a common library.
This programme is now available to view on localgov.tv the online television channel for public service modernisation. It describes how interactive touchscreen kiosks are enabling the public sector to capture reliable and timely customer feedback on services to drive improvement plans.
Read more on CUSTOMER FEEDBACK KIOSKS SUPPORT IMPROVEMENT PLANS…
A new report from Ofsted shows that schools are making encouraging progress in establishing citizenship as a secure part of the curriculum, with just over half of the secondary schools visited judged good or outstanding for students’ achievement in their knowledge and learning.
Read more on TEACHING OF CITIZENSHIP IS IMPROVING BUT MANY SCHOOLS COULD DO BETTER SAYS OFSTED…
By Richard McKie
Talking about health issues with young people can be difficult, particularly those issues that are sensitive. Youth workers are often the first point of contact so they need to have a good understanding and a knowledge of how best to deal with the issues. The Department of Health’s programme ‘You’re Welcome’, which is backed up with e-learning packages, aims to spread best practice.
Read more on HEALTH SERVICES SAY ‘YOU’RE WELCOME’ TO YOUNG PEOPLE…
Public sector organisations are not strangers to budget cuts. The traditional approach was to stop doing things that had no legal mandate and match expenditure to the reduced budget available. The result was that day centres for older people closed and grants to community groups dried up overnight. To ask local people to pay the price of budget cuts again would be indefensible when the scope for improving the quality of services and securing increased productivity is so great.
The thirteen Total Place pilot areas are working in depth on their chosen themes in order to make their final submission to Whitehall on February 5, 2010. Pilots continue to host workshops to share learning and experiences on themes that involve both central and local government, such as children and young people; crime; and drugs and alcohol. These have been well attended by colleagues from across the pilots and Whitehall departments.
Read more on LEADERSHIP CENTRE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT – TOTAL PLACE UPDATE…
