The Anywhere Working Consortium have launched a new online portal to help UK organisations adopt more flexible working practices. The business led Consortium provides a range of advice, guidance, case studies and online training to encourage individuals and organisations in the public and private sector looking to work more flexibly.
Read more on WORKPLACE RETHINK BOOSTED WITH ANYWHERE WORKING PORTAL…
Schools that are content to muddle along without trying hard to improve will be targeted by Ofsted as a result of changes in assessment processes.
The current processes classify schools with flat-lining poor results as satisfactory. It is argued that this perpetuates a complacent attitude that says things are OK just as they are. It is claimed that abolishing that label and replacing it with a new one: ‘requires improvement’ will drive improvement.
Read more on COASTING SCHOOLS TARGETED IN OFSTED BID TO RAISE STANDARDS…
The government has saved £100m in the first nine months of the financial year by introducing strict property controls and getting a better grip on the property estate.
The savings are from the national property controls, which include a requirement for Cabinet Office approval for all new leases and property acquisitions, and surplus buildings being examined for sub-letting or sale. Space is also used more effectively – for example, Cabinet Office staff led the way by moving into the Treasury building earlier this year, which was the first major example of co-location in Whitehall.
Councils could save £3 billion per year by managing demand for services and changing citizens’ behaviour, according to new research from iMPOWER.
The report, Changing The Game, identifies a critical role for behaviour change in local government amid financial constraint and spiralling demand for services.However, the study also reveals the hurdles councils need to overcome to change behaviours, including a lack of trust between councils and their communities.
Read more on NUDGE CITIZENS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR URGES REPORT…
Telehealth and telecare save lives, provide a better experience for patients and cut costs. At least three million people with long term conditions could benefit and it is estimated that it could save around £1.2 billion over the next five years. Despite the benefits there are only about 5000 users. The healthcare culture is proving resistant to change.
Read more on TELEHEALTH SLOW TO EXPAND AS CULTURE TRUMPS TECHNOLOGY…
The reticence within the coalition government to base public service reform on the adoption of the Total Place approach has been overcome and modest plans to extend Community Budgets have been replaced with additional pilots in 14 areas.
Read more on PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM SCALED UP WITH MORE COMMUNITY BUDGET PILOTS…
Plans to give councils more financial freedom will provide incentives to promote local growth over the long term and reduce dependency on central government. Councils will be able to retain a proportion of business rates which currently are all paid to the Treasury and re-distributed as grants.
The radical reform of the police service, which involves the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners, will be speeded up by the axing of the National Policing Improvement Agency and the creation of a new top body. ‘The reform programme is aimed at securing the most radical change for more than 50 years.
Plans to radically transform the lives of the country’s most troubled families move community budgets into the mainstream. They mark a move away from traditional thinking with silo approaches to service delivery and put multi-agency working to the forefront.
Read more on TROUBLED FAMILIES PLANS BOOST COMMUNITY BUDGETS AND MULTI-AGENCY WORKING…
Ofsted inspectors found that the teaching of ICT in many schools is inadequate. The problem is particularly acute in secondary schools.
The latest Ofsted report has found that achievement in information, communication and technology (ICT) was inadequate in almost a fifth of the secondary schools visited. Inspectors found that how well pupils did in secondary schools was adversely affected by the lack of challenge for more able students and poor coverage of key aspects of the ICT curriculum.
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