CALL FOR NEW DEBATE ON YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

Headlines: March 15th, 2011

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has called for a more measured debate on youth unemployment in the light of its Work Audit report on official labour market statistics. The report shows that youth unemployment has been over estimated and fewer young people are unemployed. The Institute emphasises that the problem is severe, but argues that solutions should be sought in the light of the actual situation.

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HOUSING COMPANY HELPS TENANTS INTO WORK

Headlines: March 15th, 2011

Coast & Country, one of largest the housing and regeneration companies in the North East, is working with Jobcentre Plus to help its tenants to find work.

Coast and Country have developed an innovative outreach programme that helps people move from long-term dependency on benefits into paid employment and at the same time saves taxpayer’s money. The company has set up three Working Communities Teams made up of its own specialist officers and experts from Jobcentre Plus.

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EXTRA FUNDING TO HELP DISABLED STAY IN OWN HOMES

Headlines: March 10th, 2011

The Disabled Facilities Grant programme will receive an extra £11m, bringing it up to £180m for the year starting in April 2011.

The funding is allocated through councils, and the 150 with the highest level of relative need will see the amount they receive go up next year, with other areas continuing to be funded by the same amount.

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LONDON BOROUGH PARTNERSHIP FILLS SKILLS GAP

Headlines: March 10th, 2011

The London Borough of Hackney has partnered with the REDS10 consultancy, the Southern Housing Group and Hackney Homes to provide a sustainable training and employment pathway. The partnership identifies the skills gaps in the local area, finds people with the potential to fill the gaps, trains them up and monitors their progress.

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MINISTERS OFFER PAIN RELIEF FROM BUDGET CUTS

Headlines: March 8th, 2011

Accounting rules for councils will be relaxed by allowing additional capital receipts to be used for running costs. They will also be allowed to use borrowing powers in a similar way to meet current costs. This will be achieved through the capitalisation process by which the Government permits councils, in special circumstances, to treat revenue costs as capital costs.

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WOMEN THE BIGGEST LOSERS IN BUDGET CUTS

Headlines: March 8th, 2011

Women will be more negatively affected by this year’s public sector budget cuts than men, according to a report by Edinburgh Napier University.

The research findings show that while both sexes will be affected, women are likely to be disproportionately impacted as they are currently so well represented in the public sector. Women make up significantly more of the UK public sector workforce than men, around 65 per cent. The report found that the north east of England and Scotland have the highest proportion of women working in the public sector.

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DON’T SCARE THE PUBLIC WARNS COMMONS COMMITTEE

Headlines: March 3rd, 2011

Presenting worst case scenarios when handling disasters is not helpful because the public can be misled into thinking that the picture presented is likely to happen. This is one of the main findings from a report on the use of scientific advice and evidence in emergencies from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.

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OFSTED DISCOVERS CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR CHILDREN’S HOMES

Headlines: March 3rd, 2011

Excellent leadership, recruiting and keeping the right people, getting feedback from the children and having high expectations for their future, are the critical success factors Ofsted inspectors found in excellent children’s homes. But out of more than 1400 homes inspected only 35 were considered to be excellent.

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COUNCILS MUST BOLDLY GO BEYOND BACK OFFICES IN SAVINGS SEARCH

Headlines: March 1st, 2011

Councils are facing tough challenges in making spending cuts but sharing back office services will not deliver the costs reductions required. A report from the localism think tank NLGN warns that they must be more innovative and ‘boldly go’ beyond just sharing what goes on in the back offices.

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SLOW IMPROVEMENT IN COUNCIL WEBSITES

Headlines: March 1st, 2011

The latest ‘Better Connected’ survey from the Society of IT Management shows that there has been a marginal improvement in the service provided by council websites since the 2010 survey. But the overall conclusion is that 98 percent of sites could do better and 68 percent of sites fail to achieve more than two stars.

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