General Reports and Other Publications
CIOB: Results from research by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) have exposed a lack of leadership within the construction industry. Over 650 directors & managers in the construction industry, many of whom work for companies employing more than 500 people, were unable to name any influential leaders in the industry. Of those individual leaders mentioned only one in the top five highest returns was a practicing construction industry professional.
The research suggests that construction companies are failing to provide adequate development of leadership potential. In particular, within larger companies, 18% are not progressing their leaders in any way and 45% do not have a formal succession plan or leadership strategy. Communication skills, strategic vision, understanding of the business, integrity and decisiveness were all regarded as the most important qualities for a leader to be successful in the construction industry.
TDA: Male primary school teachers have acted as fundamental role models to one in two men (48%), reveals new research from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Over 800 men were surveyed in a study to uncover the impact of male primary school teachers in boys' development.
The research revealed that 35% of men felt that having a male primary teacher challenged them to work harder at school and 22% believed that male primary teachers helped build their confidence while they were young. In addition, the men surveyed reported that they were more likely to approach male teachers with issues of bullying (50%), problems at home (29%) and questions about puberty (24%).
The news comes as the deadline for applications for primary school teacher training looms, with jobseekers having less than 9 weeks to apply for postgraduate training courses next year.
ScotGov: Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dr Andrew McLellan has published his latest report which follows a short, focused, inspection of HMP Peterhead in June 2008. It relates to a short follow-up inspection of the prison, with a focus on the conditions in which prisoners live and on the way prisoners are treated.
During this short inspection the announcement was made of the building of a new prison, HMP Grampian, on the site of Peterhead. Uncertainty about the future of the prison has thus been ended, although building will not start for some time.
Press release ~ Follow up inspection of Peterhead Prison ~ Full inspection of HM Prison Peterhead (2006) ~ HM Inspectorate of Prisons
CRC: The Commission for Rural, Communities has been asking "Is the 'Credit Crunch’ impacting on your economy?" to find out how rural communities are being affected. The issues raised have helped feed a rural perspective into a study on the impacts & implications of the ‘Credit Crunch’ on regeneration and economies.
The interim report of the study, commissioned by Local Government Minister John Healey, is now available to download and the final report will be ready shortly.
Cabinet Office: Deputy Minister for Women Barbara Follett has called on FTSE companies to appoint more women to their boards, highlighting the increased profitability which can result. New figures show that only 12% of FTSE board directors are female, but evidence shows that companies with a female chief executive or board director achieve a 10% higher return on capital.
The critical mass, or 'tipping point', has been identified as having three or more women on a company's board, but last year, only 11 of the FTSE 100 companies had three or more women on their board.
Press release ~ International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield School of Management ~
ScotParl: The delivery of community policing in Scotland is inconsistent, according to a report from the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee. Publishing the report of its Inquiry into Community Policing, the committee concludes that despite good work being done in Scotland, the majority of Scottish police forces do not have clear community policing strategies.
