Councils told to adopt 'click use' licences
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Showing posts with label councils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label councils. Show all posts
10/30/08
In The Loop: 30/10/08
10/28/08
Grimsdale's Ire: 28/10/08
The toilet roll of reason and the burger box of justice
Simon Hoggart takes a light hearted look at how crime and punishment is being questioned in the House of Commons. [Guardian]
Tory thinkers offer lesson in equality
Polly Curtis describes an influential new Policy Exchange report on reforming schools funding. [Guardian]
There's cynicism at the heart of the communities agenda
David Clements makes a concerned critique of the Sustainable Communities Act, suggesting that its motive may be to build political legitimacy rather than promote democracy. [Guardian]
Unions prepare big pay demands to offset food and fuel price rises
“Substantial pay rises are being sought to compensate for sharp increases in energy and food prices, the union-funded Labour Research Department warned last night.” [Guardian]
Child support changes could hit 25% of lone parents, warns charity
"Changes to the way lone parents receive child support could see a quarter falling through the system, a charity warned on the day government reforms come into effect. From this week, separating couples on benefits - who make up 70% of child support claimants - will be encouraged to reach their own arrangements voluntarily, leaving the government's new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission to concentrate on those cases where people repeatedly refuse to pay maintenance or regularly default." [Guardian]
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10/27/08
Grimsdale's Ire: 27/10/08
Minister bows to calls on climate change bill
The government is to announce tomorrow that it will include rapidly growing aviation and shipping emissions in
More councils expected to ban speed cameras
“Several more local authorities are expected to ban speed cameras over the next year, following the lead of
10/21/08
Grimsdale's Ire: 21/10/08
The government must sort out council tax
Chris Leslie and Sunder Katwala write on the need for Labour to grab the mantle of council tax reform, in order to avoid being outmanoeuvred by recent Conservative taxation policy. [Guardian]
Wealth gap narrows faster in
“The gap between rich and poor since 2000 has narrowed faster in the
Straight to the specialist: Johnson cuts GP referrals 21/10/08
“Patients with back pain will be able to access free treatment from NHS physiotherapists without having to go through a GP, under plans to be unveiled today by the health secretary, Alan Johnson. In a substantial extension of patient choice, he also wants to give people an opportunity to book appointments with speech therapists, dietitians, podiatrists and other health professionals.” [Guardian]
Lloyds chief tells staff: you'll still get bonuses 21/10/08
“The chief executive of Lloyds TSB, one of the banks participating in the £37bn bank bail-out, has promised staff they will receive bonuses this year despite Gordon Brown's promise of a crackdown on bankers' pay following the investment by taxpayers. Eric Daniels has told employees that the historic government intervention will not change the behaviour of Lloyds, which is in the throes of the rescue takeover of HBOS brokered by the prime minister.” [Guardian]
10/15/08
Grimsdale's Ire: 15/10/08
Councils and ministers to discuss fallout from banking crisis
“Town hall officials will meet ministers later today to discuss help for 116 councils affected by the near-collapse of the Icelandic banking system.
The Local Government Association, the umbrella body for councils in
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8/14/08
Heron's Eye: 14/08/08
MP's death leaves Brown facing new SNP challenge in neighbouring
Gordon Brown faces a difficult byelection in his neighbouring
Severin Carrell on the issues facing the Labour party and byelections at the moment. [Guardian]
Gordon Brown is in a "deep hole", placing Labour in a more serious position than other governments that have experienced mid-term blues, a former minister said yesterday. [Guardian]
A powerful coalition of mainstream Labour MPs and leaders of
David Hare anatomised the failure of privatisation in The Permanent Way; in Stuff Happens, he turned a ruthless eye on the double-think and culpable naivety that led to the
A Tory push to win back seats in the north of
"
It was dreary and wet, and slumped in a chair opposite David Cameron was a jobless hoodie: much of the north in a nutshell according to Policy Exchange, until yesterday the Tory leader's favourite thinktank.
"A rightwing thinktank has written off many northern cities as worthless failures and advised their inhabitants to move south at once. In fact, everything about life in the north of
Steve Bell on Policy Exchange’s report on the north of
Young men are shunning work and turning to a life of crime as
One of Gordon Brown's closest allies has joined calls for a windfall tax on oil and energy company profits to pay for measures to alleviate the impact of higher fuel bills on the poor. [Guardian]
Dozens of companies face having to report embarrassing sharp increases in their carbon pollution under government plans to crack down on greenwash. [Guardian]
A former senior civil servant who was responsible for coordinating the government's anti-drugs policy now believes that legalisation would be less harmful than the current strategy. Julian Critchley, the former director of the Cabinet Office's anti-drugs unit, also said that his views were shared by the "overwhelming majority" of professionals in the field, including police officers, health workers and members of the government. [Guardian]
Peter Wilby on the dangerous effects of journalists’ desire for a news story overpowering rational examination in scientific matters. [Guardian]
Martin Kettle prods around Gordon Brown’s brain in order to highlight how Brown’s impression of what is courageous becomes something else when he is unable to change direction on issues. [Guardian]
Police would be given greater powers to conduct surveillance operations on people suspected of crimes such as burglary and vehicle theft under plans the Conservative Party will announce today. [Guardian]
Ministers' plans to hold in secret inquests that are deemed to put national security at risk are expected to face defeat when the House of Lords votes on them this autumn. A cross-party committee of peers, including a former lord chief justice and two former attorney-generals, has told the government that any decision to hold an inquest without a jury must be taken by a judge and not a minister. [Guardian]
Local councils, health authorities and hundreds of other public bodies are to be given the power to access details of everyone's personal text, emails and internet use under Home Office proposals published yesterday. [Guardian]
Ed Vaizey, Shadow Culture Minsiter: “One of Peter Mandelson's enduring political legacies has been a pithy maxim: only when you are bored of what you are saying will the public start to hear you. So at the risk of boring myself, let me respond to the attack on Conservative arts policy by Dominic Cooke, the artistic director of the Royal Court theatre in London (Lurking in the wings, August 6)….” [Guardian]
Heather Stewart on the possible options available to the Chancellor to stimulate the economy. [Guardian]
Grimsdale's Ire: 14/08/08
A part of the historic
The claim by the Conservative-leaning thinktank Policy Exchange that some northern cities are beyond revival did not go down well in
Police call to action after pay talks collapse
The Police Federation yesterday called on its 140,000 members to in effect work to rule after talks broke down in a bitter pay row. The federation's chairman Paul McKeever called on rank-and-file members to conform strictly to their conditions of employment after discussions broke down in the long-running pay dispute which saw more than 20,000 officers march on
Ethnic minority lawyers discriminated against, report finds
The body that regulates solicitors has been discriminating against ethnic minority lawyers and subjecting them to potentially ruinous investigations, an independent report has concluded. [Guardian]
It might seem a far cry from the golden age of post-war housing, when both main political parties competed to deliver millions of homes in record time and "credit crunch" had yet to enter the popular vocabulary, but after a gap of more than 20 years, town halls are now re-entering an area regarded as no-go territory until recently - planning thousands of new council houses. [Guardian]
Boris Johnson backs 'disproportionate' development project
Boris Johnson has given the go-ahead to a £50m development project in a
7/31/08
Grimsdale's Ire: 31/07/08
A top aide to the mayor of
Met chief challenges Johnson over role
Sir Ian Blair yesterday warned that his post as commissioner of the Metropolitan police was becoming increasingly politicised and that plans by the
Local government:
The troubled history of local council logos has thrown up another spat after rival authorities managed to end up with exactly the same clever piece of design based on one letter. [Guardian]
Arts Council damaged by funding row, report warns
Arts Council England mishandled its last funding round so completely that it ended up receiving "the most damaging publicity in its 60-year history", according to a report which investigated the way the council, after having secured an extra £50m for the arts from the government, bungled its distribution. [Guardian]
Promise of prompt access to family doctors not met
The NHS in
Stuart Simpson: We should welcome China's growth, not fear it
Goldman Sachs forecast that by 2050, out of the current G7 nations, only the
There is much hype and hysteria about this fact. But we need calm heads to see what is really exciting about
Multilateralism not dead as a Doha
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6/10/08
How can CEOs drive accountability and outcome measurement in their charities without losing sight of organisations caring supporting function?
Developing effective monitoring to improve leadership and public perceptions
The third sector’s goals are more intangible and their ability to evaluate success less clear cut than the private sector, which focuses on profitability; or the public sector, where accountability comes through elected politicians. These differences in intension and preferred measurements have often caused problems, as funding agreements have usually been focused on inputs (where money went) and outputs (what the charity did), rather than outcomes (what difference was made).
Currently, the monitoring system of third sector organisations are largely controlled by funders, often stipulating reporting which offers minimal benefit to the third sector. Consequentially organisations spend too much time and resources focusing on providing less appropriate information. This reduces funders’ ability to fully understand the fund’s benefits, as they may receive reports that don’t fully reflect how much of an impact their money is making to communities.
However, more considered and proactive outcome measurements would reassure funders, and focus organisations minds on the provision of services. If third sector organisations were better able to highlight their societal benefits through effective performance measurement systems, whilst showing financial prudence then they would be more attractive to funders, and increase their role on the delivery of public services.
Learning to communicate more effectively with funders
New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) highlights a reciprocal problem between funders and the third sector, with funders being mistrustful of the third sector’s financial competence, and recipients being too nervous to question the funders volume or choice of reporting. However, through examining the optimum level of measurement, and having the confidence to explain the benefits of differing approaches it is possible to build trust with funders, provide them information that highlights the positive outcomes from their investment, and reduce administrative waste.
When funders ask for detailed reports they want to ensure that their money is not being wasted. However, often too little feedback is given, leaving charities unaware of how their reports are being used, or even at all. This can be demoralising, time consuming and inhibits future improvements to the monitoring system.
This is exacerbated by the timidity of some organisations in the face of funders, as they are reluctant to question or challenge their demands for fear of alienating funders. This weakens relationships and threatens trust, as charities may be hesitant to report problems or speak clearly.
NPC’s ‘Turning the Tables’ pilot study encouraged charities to be more proactive through producing their own standard report and then offering it to all of their funders. They suggested creating three types of reports:
- A core report, containing information relevant to the whole organisation.
- Project reports, containing detailed project specific information.
- Individual reports, tailored to the needs of particular funders.
This method helped re-examine the reporting structure through taking a holistic approach; improving organisations’ relationships with funders, through increasing empathy; and lowering administrative costs through reduced duplication and targeted monitoring.
Ensuring that staff members and service users are involved in the monitoring process
Engaging with staff is a useful way of encouraging innovation and ingenuity to create solutions. Given the fact that staff members are the front line of service it is necessary to seek their input to create an optimum balance between improving the needs of service users and funders’ needs for accountability and financial competence. Ensuring support for change and ascertaining whether the organisation currently has the training and capacity to handle any governance reforms is critical.
Similarly the involvement of service users in the governance of organisations and in defining outcomes is one of the factors which helps to distinguish the third sector as having a user-centred perspective, as opposed to the organisation-centred perspective so often seen in the public sector. Focusing public services on the user is one of the most fundamental challenges facing organisations who delivery and commission public services and is a key strength for the third sector.
Far from compromising the support which third sector organisations provide, a greater emphasis on outcomes and performance measurement will mean that organisations focus on delivering the services which really matter, and that funders are aware of the real impact which they are making.
This article was written by Jonathan McHugh in June 2008
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