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Annual Reports
CO: The size of the government estate has been reduced by 15%, making way for businesses to grow, a report published by Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office revealed last week. The annual State of the Estate (SOFTE) report showed that since 2010 the equivalent of 18 times the size of the office space in the Shard building, or 230 football pitches, has been freed up.
NO: The Parliamentary Ombudsman has published data on the number of complaints that it received relating to every UK government department in 2012.
The analysis reveals big variations between departments. It shines a spotlight on departments that have been subject to the largest increases in complaints and also highlights those that have made significant improvements in their complaint handling.
PC&PE: The Work Programme ‘has the potential to work well for relatively mainstream jobseekers, but is unlikely to reach the most disadvantaged long-term unemployed people’, argues the Work and Pensions Committee in a Report published last week. The hardest to help jobseekers remain at risk of being ‘parked’ and given little or no support by providers who assess them as being unlikely to find sustained work.
DWP: The proportion of separated parents who are paying for their children through the Child Support Agency has reached an historic high, with more than 4 in 5 parents meeting their financial responsibility, new official statistics show. The news comes as the government continues the transformation of the child maintenance system, moving from an adversarial system to a collaborative one.
PC&PE: 3 years into the life of this Parliament, Ministers are unable to define what they hope to achieve through of one of the Coalition’s flagship policies, say MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee in a report published last week - The Green Deal: watching brief.
TKF: 73% of NHS professionals do not think that quality of care in the NHS is given enough priority, says a survey published recently in a new report on patient-centred leadership by The King's Fund.
The survey, which took place after the publication of Robert Francis's report, also found that 40% thought that the quality of leadership in the NHS as a whole was poor or very poor, in contrast to 11% in their own service or team.
The survey, which took place after the publication of Robert Francis's report, also found that 40% thought that the quality of leadership in the NHS as a whole was poor or very poor, in contrast to 11% in their own service or team.
Press release & links ~ NHS Confederation responds to King's Fund report Patient-centred leadership: rediscovering our purpose
IFS: Over the first decade of the 2000s, rapid growth in public health spending was matched by a slowdown in the growth of private health spending. At the same time, an increasing volume of publicly funded care was delivered by the private sector – meaning that the NHS became a major client for many private healthcare providers.
These are among the main findings of a new report published recently by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Nuffield Trust. The report forms part of a joint programme of work between the two organisations entitled ‘Understanding competition and choice in the NHS’.
AS: An Audit Scotland report published last week, Managing early departures from the Scottish public sector, is designed to help public bodies improve their management & reporting of early release schemes.
CEOP: Nearly half of all child abduction cases reported in the UK between 2011-12 were committed by strangers, according to police figures published in a unique report recently. ‘Taken – a study of child abductions in the UK’ brings together academic expertise and a sample of police data to provide a snapshot of the extent of child abductions in the UK.
The report re-ignites calls for a revamp of ‘stranger-danger’ warnings in the wake of findings which show that in 42% of police reports studied, the abductor or would-be abductor was not known to the child.
The report (which has 14 recommendations) calls for the creation of a national child abduction ‘hub’ to give a clearer picture of the problem across the UK and provide data & support to improve how agencies deal with abductions.
The report (which has 14 recommendations) calls for the creation of a national child abduction ‘hub’ to give a clearer picture of the problem across the UK and provide data & support to improve how agencies deal with abductions.
