The Campaign for Better Transport, a charitable trust, has warned that the predicted massive cuts to local transport funding likely to emerge from the Spending Review, could harm the ability of cities to reduce dependency on the car.

Read more on SPENDING CUTS WILL HIT PLANS TO REDUCE CAR DEPENDENCY…

Community groups and organisations have an important role to play in influencing policies, decisions, and services, particularly those that affect the most marginalised and disadvantaged. Councillors, as representatives of local people, are natural allies in achieving many of our goals.

Read more on LOCAL ACTION: A GUIDE FOR COMMUNITIES WORKING WITH COUNCILLORS…

A report today calls for a radical overhaul of university career services. ‘Class of 2010’ is published by Endsleigh and in response to feedback from the first set of graduates to have gone through university through the recession, it recommends careers services become not-for-profit recruitment consultancies specialising in finding work for graduates in businesses local to the institution.

The research has been carried out for the insurance company by Demos over the past six months. It studies the aspirations and concerns of graduates on issues such as university life, the job market, family and community life, politics and the environment.

One of its key conclusions concerns the role that universities and local businesses could play in helping graduates find work. It believes changes to careers services would reduce the graduate skills gap and graduate unemployment, foster closer relationships between students and their careers service and assist universities in raising additional funds that would be channeled into education and training activities and small grants to encourage student and graduate enterprise.

The report says an increasing number of graduates are changing their priorities to care for their children and parents in their old age. It found that a third of male graduates were willing to sacrifice their career to care full time for their children.

Ian Passmore, Managing Director of, Endsleigh, said there was a high level of optimism among the students. “While optimism alone is not enough for graduates to secure their dream job, we clearly saw that today’s graduates are determined to work hard to get a foot on the career ladder but they need more help to make the transition,” he said.

Read more on STUDENTS WANT OVERHAUL OF UNIVERSITY CAREERS SERVICES…

Three cost-cutting ideas suggested by public sector workers and members of the public are to be put into effect by the Government. They are the first to be introduced since the launch of the Spending Challenge website which asked for ways to help tackle the budget deficit.

Read more on FIRST OF SPENDING CHALLENGE IDEAS TO BECOME POLICY…

By Jacqueline Davies and Jeremy Kourdi.

Many organizations are failing to realize the simple truth about talent: they are misunderstanding their people, making flawed choices and allowing the true potential of their workforce to go unused and unfulfilled. Understanding the truth about talent in all its forms is a vital step in developing an organization and ensuring long term, sustainable success.

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More people are being prosecuted for illegally dumping rubbish but fly-tipping is still costing local authorities almost a million pounds a week. New figures show English authorities brought nearly 2,500 prosecutions last year, up by more than 20 percent on the number in 2008-09.

Read more on NEW FIGURES SHOW COST TO COUNCILS OF ILLEGAL DUMPING…

An organisation representing rural local authorities, businesses and other public services is urging policy-makers to act on recommendations from the Commission for Rural Communities to help the countryside realise its economic potential. The call has come from The Rural Services Network, which believes the Commission’s Agenda For Change recognised the countryside’s vital role in Britain’s economic recovery.

Read more on RURAL SERVICES GROUP WANTS ACTION TO RECOGNISE ROLE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE…

By Kevin Young

Becoming redundant creates extreme stress. But redundancy also creates high stress levels in those who remain. Budget cuts mean change and change management skills need to be learned. The work of ex-colleagues has to be shared around and new skills are usually required. The author describes how this demand for new skills creates stress and explains what can be done to keep the stress levels down.

Read more on REDUCING THE STRESS ON STAFF WHO REMAIN AFTER THE CUTS…

This programme is now available to view on localgov.tv the online television channel for public service modernisation. It shows how councils can save up to £1 million each year by reducing benefit fraud and improving the efficiency of enquiry handling by bringing together data from different sources to create a single view of the customer.

Read more on BENEFTIS FROM A SINGLE VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER…

New research has found 80 per cent of people feel do not have enough information about options for caring for older people. The study, published by Counsel and Care, revealed a serious lack of public understanding of the care system and of information about it. 
 
In a survey of more than 1,300 adults, aged from 18 to 90, the charity found that only five per cent believed the social care system was easy to navigate.

Read more on STUDY SHOWS LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF CARE SYSTEM…