Reforms affecting the school workforce, particularly the reduction in teachers’ overall hours, have resulted in a revolutionary shift in workforce culture, with clear benefits for many schools. This is the conclusion of the report from Ofsted.Headteachers and senior managers continue to sustain a heavy workload, but increasingly they are supported by well qualified and experienced managers from outside education which is allowing them to allocate more time for strategic leadership and management. The substantial expansion of the wider workforce at all levels is allowing the survey schools to extend the curriculum, provide more care, guidance and support for pupils, and use data more effectively to monitor pupils’ progress.
This report describes the importance of health organizations meeting employees’ expectations and the impact this can have on individual performance. It shows that good people management and development influences performance through a process involving individuals, which is more effective if aligned with organisational goals. A key message is that for success it must come from the top.
Perceptions of racial discrimination by council housing departments or housing associations increased from 15 per cent in 2002 to 24 per cent. This finding comes from the Communities and Local Government 2007 Citizenship Survey.
Information about support available to people in need from almost 800 charities in the UK has been brought together for the first time. A new website – www.turn2us.org.uk has been launched to provide users with details of all of the state benefits and charity grants available to them.
This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the online television channel for public service modernisation. In the programme Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, discusses progress of the Building Schools for the Future programme in delivering the Government’s 45bn pounds investment in secondary education.
The annual Absence Management survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimates that up to 14 million working days are lost each year due to alcohol related problems, costing the UK an estimated 2 billion pounds each year. Almost a third of organisations have dismissed employees in the last two years due to alcohol problems.
This report from the Green Alliance examines what will be needed to bring about a major increase in the extent and quality of local authority action on climate change. It focuses on the role of the new performance framework and local area agreements.The new framework represents a important step by the government to encourage local authority action. If local government is to achieve its full potential in tackling climate change, its role as place-shaper and community leader will be crucial. The report takes the view that the new framework must reflect local government’s role as place-shapers and community leaders in climate change adaptation and mitigation. A narrow focus on action in managing their own estate would represent a significant missed opportunity. An average council produces at least 30,000 tonnes of carbon per annum, but its local community can generate ten million tonnes.
Read more on CHANGING PLACES: ADVANCING LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE…
This report from the Public Management and Policy Association think-tank looks at the problems involved in translating corporate experiences to a public sector in the process of reform. The issue has arisen out of the modernization of public service delivery.
This survey report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development highlights the changing face of Human Resource departments as they become more strategic contributors to the success of the organization. The survey found that 53 per cent of organisations have restructured their HR function in the last year to become more strategic and over 80 per cent have done so in the last five years.
Abstracts: September 27th, 2007
This report from the Institute for Public Policy Research North analyses investments and outputs in the North East of England over the last decade. It shows that while public investment has resulted in improvements in the region, stark variations sub-regionally are preventing the North East from improving its regional standing relative to other regions.