RURAL BROADBAND: WHY DOES IT MATTER?
The Commission for Rural Communities argues that the economic and social case for a networked nation is overwhelming. Access to the internet can create benefits through higher educational attainment for children, access to employment opportunities for workless adults, improved standards of living for older people and increased democratic engagement and access to information.
The core message of this independent report to Her Majesty’s Government by Graham Allen MP, is that it is the approach which offers a real opportunity to make lasting improvements in the lives of our children, to forestall many persistent social problems and end their transmission from one generation to the next, and to make long-term savings in public spending.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has called on councils to open up their public meetings to local citizen journalists and routinely allow online filming of public discussions as part of increasing their transparency.
Greater openness can be achieved by lifting access restrictions and adopting a modern day approach so that credible community or ‘hyper-local’ bloggers and online broadcasters get the same routine access to council meetings as the traditional accredited media have.
Read more on CALL TO OPEN C0UNCIL MEETINGS TO CITIZEN JOURNALISTS…
Achieving the vision of managing taxpayers money wisely requires working through four essential principles. There must be transparency providing clear, consistent, comparable and accessible information and there must be accountability so that decision-makers and budget holders can be held to account. There is also a need for simplicity so that it is easy to understand what is going on. From this it follows that there must be coherence so that government activities are clear and logical.
Read more on MANAGING TAXPAYERS MONEY WISELY: COMMITMENT TO ACTION…
Prime Minister David Cameron has set out his vision of public services where providers from the private and third sectors will be given a level playing field to compete with any public body. This will be achieved by creating a presumption that private firms, voluntary groups and charities will be allowed to run services. By creating this legal presumption there would be no need for repeated legislation.
Read more on PM PLEDGES TO DISMANTLE BIG GOVERNMENT AND BUILD THE BIG SOCIETY…
This report from the West Midlands Improvement and Efficiency partnership describes the need for councils and partnerships to work smarter and more efficiently. It calls for more transparency, greater engagement of citizens and developing of community approaches to service delivery. It argues that this will only be achieved if public sector bodies develop and use information and intelligence more effectively.
Read more on INTELLIGENT EFFICIENCY: TOWARDS A NEW MODEL OF WORKING…
The public handels a vast quanitiey of sensitive data and it is rightly subject to high levels of scrutiny about the way data is protected, Stuart Feargrieve of Axway UK, describes the widespread risks of data getting into the wrong hands. He also explains what can be done to limit the risks.
Read more on PROTECTING SENSITIVE DATA IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR…
Councils should move away from handling customer contact in specialist areas such as planning and manage it centrally as an activity in its own right. This would allow the process to be managed more effectively at a reduced cost.
Read more on COUNCILS URGED TO TAKE A NEW APPROACH TO CUSTOMER CONTACT…
Half the children in care questioned about their attitude to the Family Justice System said they did not trust the courts to make the right decision. The Children on Family Justice report, published by the Children’s Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan, reveals a range of concerns children in care have about the court system.
© PublicNet is a KnowShare production | Technology by Jag Singh + Hilton & Hilton Ltd | Admin Log in