CULTURAL CHANGE IN PUBLIC SECTOR ESSENTIAL SAYS THINKTANK

Headlines: July 29th, 2015

Cultural change and innovation across the public sector are essential pre-requisites if the Chancellor is to meet his target of a balanced budget by 2019-20. This is the conclusion of Tough love for a better future: The 2015 Spending Review, published by the Centre for Policy Studies.

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SPENDING REVIEW MOVES PUBLIC SRVICE AGENDA FROM EFFICIENCY TO TRANSFORMATION

Headlines: July 22nd, 2015

The Spending Review announced by the Chancellor will move public service thinking away from seeking further efficiencies to pursing innovative approaches to transform services.

The Chancellor has asked departments, outside the ringfence, to model two scenarios of 25% and 40% of savings within their resource budgets by 2019-20 in real terms. These are the same reductions requested ahead of the Spending Review of 2010.

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PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS FEAR JOBS AT RISK

Headlines: June 23rd, 2015

Public sector workers fear their jobs are at risk and are turning to the private sector to find employment, according to a survey of over 3,000 jobseekers conducted by totaljobs.

The research revealed that 64% of employees from the public sector fear that their job is at risk as a result of public sector cuts. With the economic recovery continuing, over half of respondents say they believe that the private sector offers a more attractive alternative and three quarter are happy to be approached with job opportunities even when they are not actively looking for work.

Despite this, over half of all jobseekers still think that the public sector offers an appealing career. Generous pay, pensions and benefits, as well as increased flexible working opportunities were cited as some of the most popular reasons.

However, candidates are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lengthy application process associated with the sector and the significant majority (61%) say that the search for public sector jobs has taken longer than they anticipated. Nearly three quarters say that they think that the public sector’s application process is the longest.

Ian Burke, director at totaljobs, said: “Jobseekers are reading the news about public sector cuts and inevitably feeling more cautious about a career in this line of work. However, it’s still an area that is popular with candidates thanks to benefits such as flexible working policies.

“The Conservative government has said that it will focus on making recruitment in the sector ‘more open’ and that it will ‘actively look for exceptional talent, especially in areas where capabilities are in short supply.’ With this in mind public sector employers looking to restructure and recruit the best talent must ensure that their application process is streamlined and easy to understand.”

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UNIVERSAL CREDIT: THINKTANK CALLS FOR RETHINK

Headlines: June 9th, 2015

The Resolution Foundation has called for a rethink of the structure of Universal Credit before millions of families are moved onto the new system.

The thinktank argues that the policy focus in UC must shift from reducing worklessness to encouraging and supporting all members of a household into decent, sustainable work. Simply being in work is not enough; the objective must be to tackle endemic low pay. To do so, we make recommendations that would improve incentives and provide effective practical support to help people progress.

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WATCHDOG CALLS FOR MORE PROACTIVE APPROACH IN WELFARE REFORM

Headlines: May 29th, 2015

The National Audit Office has today called for the Department for Work & Pensions to use the hard lessons it learned from implementing its recent programme of welfare reforms to improve how it manages change and anticipates risk. The Department needs to be more proactive.

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PUBLIC SERVICE ACCOUNTANTS WANT MORE HONESTY IN ELECTION DEBATE

Headlines: April 29th, 2015

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy has called for greater transparency from Westminster parties around their spending reduction plans. The call comes as a YouGov survey for the institute showed the stark lack of trust in Westminster’s politicians.

The survey showed that while trust in politicians was low across the board, local politicians were twice as likely to be trusted as national figures and revealing that just 16% of the UK population trust politicians based in Westminster to allocate spending of budgets within regions while 32% trust local elected politicians to do this.

The survey also showed that over three quarters of the UK population said that accountability for local expenditure on public services should be placed at a local level rather than central government with 77% of the UK population believing that regions and local areas should be in control of their own budget and spending.

Responding to the survey results Rob Whiteman, the Institute’s CEO, said: “It is worrying that trust in Westminster’s political class is quite so low. However given the paucity of financial information behind so many of the parties’ manifesto commitments and how lacking in detail their spending plans are, it is scarcely surprising that most people in the UK want decisions on spending made as close to the people they affect as possible.

“This survey also demonstrates why CIPFA has been calling for greater devolution of financial powers from Westminster to local areas. The public want it and it now must fall to Westminster politicians to deliver this devolution if they are to restore the trust of people and communities up and down the country.

“Importantly this devolution must not only be over spending, in effect the power to decide where to cut, but also the power over how to raise funds to be used locally. If we are to address the trust deficit in UK politics we need to empower local leaders to make the decisions communities want and to be held accountable for their choices.”

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ANCIENT FOOTPRINT RESEARCH MOVES TO MODERN CRIME SCENE

Headlines: April 23rd, 2015

Techniques for documenting ancient footprints are to be used to help forensic scientists understand modern-day crime scenes.

Bournemouth University’s Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution has been awarded a significant grant from the Natural Environment Research Council to explore how research relating to documenting ancient footprints can be applied today.

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CALL FOR MANAGERS TO DEFUSE TENSIONS AT WORK

Headlines: April 15th, 2015

Interpersonal conflict at work is widespread, but managers can avoid workplace ‘fracas’ by diffusing tension early on.

Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for HR and people development, highlights that one in three UK employees have experienced some form of interpersonal conflict at work in the last year. This includes one in four who have had isolated disputes or clashes and a further one in four who report ongoing difficult relationships.

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DISADVANTAGED GROUPS GET HELP WITH CIVIL SERVICE CAREER

Headlines: April 7th, 2015

New measures are being brought in by the Cabinet Office to ensure that civil servants from under-represented or disadvantaged groups can succeed in the civil service.

An updated version of the September 2014 Talent Action Plan sets out measures to remove barriers and ensure that the most talented people succeed and reach the top positions, regardless of who they are and what their background is.

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LANDLORDS HELP TENANTS GET EMPLOYMENT

Headlines: April 2nd, 2015

A new training initiative to boost sustainable employment opportunities in the North West has been launched by Trafford-based Procure Plus.

The ‘Standards Programme’, introduced by the social housing regeneration consortium, is designed to help individuals distant from the labour market secure sustainable employment in a variety of sectors.

The programme has been developed to help frontline workers from local employment and support groups better advise their clients in the search for employment and covers a wide range of skills. Sessions include topics such as assessing the work readiness of job seekers and helping candidates understand what it means to be responsible employees.

The Procure Plus Standards Programme is being delivered by Back on Track, a Manchester based charity experienced in providing education and advice around gaining employment, and has been independently accredited, meaning attendees will benefit from industry leading best practice.

Clare Meachem, regeneration manager at Procure Plus, commented: “There’s a real need for more investment in employment in the North West, so we decided to apply our experience in supporting candidates into work in the housing and construction industries to other sectors, so more people can benefit from our support.

“Through this initiative, Procure Plus is increasing the capacity of local support networks to deliver quality realistic employment and training outcomes, while improving the outlook for the job market across the region.”

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