An all party committee of MPs has called on the Government to devise a joined up, cross-government strategy to prevent homelessness.

Evidence to the committee revealed that across Great Britain, tens of thousands of households approach local authorities for support with homelessness. The number of cases of all forms of homelessness has risen in England, while remaining
steady in Scotland,

Read more on MPs CALL FOR A HOMLESSNESS STRATEGY…

The Government’s announcement of an independent review of building regulations and fire
safety following the Grenfell Tower fire in June has caused concern about the impact on PFI projects. This S & P report assess the impact on public finance initiative projects.

Read more on IMPACT ON PFI PROJECTS OF GRENFELL TOWER FIRE…

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, said that the average new home will have to last 2,000 years if the sluggish rate of house building and replacement continues.

Read more on AVERAGE HOUSE IN ENGLAND WILL HAVE TO LAST 2,000 YEARS WARNS COUNCIL BODY…

This is a guide for councillors and officers working to build a stronger dialogue between councils and residents.

The term ‘engagement’ means anything that creates a stronger two-way relationship between council and communities. This runs from formal consultation to more deliberative and informal listening exercises. It can include co-production, crowdsourcing, events and public meetings.

Read more on NEW CONVERSATION: LGA GUIDE TO ENGXAGEMENT…

A Select Parliamentary Committee has challenged the effectiveness of the Troubled Families programme and criticised the Communities Department for its handling of the evaluation report.

The programme, launched in 2012, aimed to improve the way public services responded to need by focusing on the family as a unit and through overcoming the siloed organisational structure by adopting a team approach to providing support. Pilot projects, launched in 2010, as part of the Total Place initiative, produced outstanding results from early intervention and a team approach, with a team leader assigned to each family. The cost savings of the pilots were substantial.

Read more on MPs CRITICAL OF TROUBLED FAMILIES PROGRAMME…

In a new publication ‘The Border after Brexit’, the Adam Smith Institute in argues that the UK border needs to be secure so that we can trust who is coming in and decide whether they can be more open.

The authors claim that The Border Force seems to be in a state of complete disarray, missing potentially thousands of high-risk flights and making no record of having done so; queuing times at major airports are consistently below target during busy months; and the systems the Force is reliant on are riddled with errors and badly out of date – the anti-terror Warning Index is fourteen years past its use-by date.

The reason for this seems to be that, after the failure of one giant IT project to fix these problems, nobody in Whitehall wants to take responsibility for bringing the Force up to date. We believe that the problems with the initial IT project were that the Home Office tried to build the e-Borders system in-house – a little bit like them trying to design a new iPad from scratch instead of just buying them from Apple.

The paper argues that a technological solution, based on biometric scanning that is becoming the standard globally, is desirable, but the state should not try to make it itself. Instead, the state should let the private sector devise a solution, and pay it for successful results, not for inputs.

Read more on THE BORDER AFTER BREXIT…

A survey of social services directors has revealed a depressing picture following sustained budget reductions and a lack of confidence in making further cuts.

The annual ADASS Budget Survey is an authoritative analysis of the state of adult social care finances drawn from the experiences of current leaders in adult social care. It provides in-depth intelligence on how adult social care is responding to the multiple challenges of meeting increased expectations and need, whilst managing reducing resources in an environment where the provider and labour markets are fragile.

Read more on BUDGET SURVEY REVEALS DETERIORATING SOCIAL SERVICES…

District councils are the sleeping giants of public health and it is time to wake them. This is main finding from an editorially independent report commissioned by the District Councils’ Network.

Read more on TIME TO WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANTS OF PUBLIC HEALTH…

IPPR has called for the introduction of a troubled lives programme to improve the service that is given to people with multiple problems and to cut the cost of service provision. The programme would mirror the successful troubled families initiative.

Read more on THINK TANK CALLS FOR TROUBLED LIVES PROGRAMME…

In a new report How to Privatise the High Street, published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Dominic Nutt urges the Government to enhance Business Improvement Districts and support locally-lead regeneration of Britain’s streets.

Read more on HOW TO PRIVATISE THE HIGH STREET…