The Challenge Fund has been created to encourage councils and primarycare trusts to find solutions to longstanding problems that have the potential to lead to real social change and improvement in health and well-being.
The Fund aims to encourage councils and PCT service commissioners to find collaborative solutions through social enterprise. 

This report from the Department of Work and Pensions found that sub-market rents and security of tenure represent a work incentive, but the social housing system is not run in a way that seeks to maximise this potential. There needs to be some motivation for social landlords to deliver employment support and the role that they might play needs to be defined. 

This publication from Communities and Local Government is a part of the government’s commitment to provide local areas with the support they need to respond to their own particular cohesion challenges. It focuses on what councils could do to both prevent and respond to local issues. It seeks to encourage local authorities to be aware of who is living in their area and how they interact and get on. 

This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the onlinetelevision channel for public service modernisation. The case studies illustrate the different approaches being taken to achieve transformation. 

This annual survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals the continuing growth of e-learning, but raises concerns about its effectiveness.
Over half of learning and development managers now offer e-learning as part of their training provision. It is being developed more extensively in the public sector with 82 per cent of organizations making use of it. This compares to 49 per cent in the private sector. 

This report from the Institute of Community Cohesion describes the importance of understanding local communities in order to build cohesion between them. It sets out a model that highlights religious and ethnic diversity and illustrates where these intersect to influence the establishment of local leadership structures and networks. 

The skills survey report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals that in 45 per cent of public sector organizations there has been a cut in training budgets over the past 12 months. The indications are that the continued post-Gershon squeeze is encouraging employers to reduce the head count and to cut costs across personnel activities. 

This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the online television channel for public service modernisation. In a wide-ranging interview Jonathon Porritt, environmental campaigner and chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, outlines how the Climate Change Bill will impact local authorities across the country.
He highlights the Carbon Reduction Commitment as a legislative component that will mandate councils to manage carbon allowances and make operational adjustments. 

The latest survey from Communities and Local Government on the extent to which people trust their local councils shows that levels of trust have risen to 60 per cent. There has been a steady increase from 2001 when the figure was 52 per cent.
Levels of trust vary by ethnicity, with higher levels of trust amongst people from Asian backgrounds. 

This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the online television channel for public service modernisation. Alexis Cleveland, Director General for Transformational Government at the Cabinet Office, describes the biggest challenge facing the public sector as ‘moving out of the silo’.
In the interview she explains how some councils are leading the way by collaborating with other councils and utilities and benefiting from information sharing with the Department for Work and Pensions.