General Reports and Other Publications
nef: Independent analysis from think-tank nef (the new economics foundation) shows that ‘AV would increase the power of the average voter, but not eradicate inequalities in the UK voting system’. Just weeks before the UK votes on whether to change its parliamentary electoral system from First Past the Post (FPtP) to the Alternative Vote (AV), it reveals how the influence of voters would change under the proposed AV system.
A Voter Power Index website allows visitors to find their voter power by postcode and display a ranking of the UK’s constituencies.
DfE: Sebastian James, Group Operations Director at Dixons Retail plc, has published his independent Education Capital Review.
ippr: The government should help establish a comparison website for nannies & nurseries, according to a new report from ippr. The institute for public policy research says parents should be able to go online and provide ratings, feedback & user satisfaction levels for other parents to find the best local childcare providers. ippr’s research shows that parents trust other parents and want a single point of information for advice on childcare services in their local areas.
There is already a ratings site for the NHS (NHS Choices) that allows patients to rate doctors’ surgeries, dentists & hospitals. ippr wants a similar national site for parents to use to rate, compare & comment on nurseries, nannies and other childcare providers to build on the popularity of price comparison websites, open-access Ofsted ratings and parenting web-sites like NetMums and MumsNet that require users to be registered.
Newswire – LGA: The average council has to report 43,000 different pieces of information (ticking an estimated 12.6m boxes) a year to meet the bureaucratic demands of central Government, the Local Government Association has revealed. The LGA is calling for this time consuming & costly burden to be slashed. It is estimated that on average it costs each council £1.8m each year in staff time and other resources to collate & report this information.
Press release & links ~ The Single Data List and Local Authority Data Burden
Press release & links ~ The Single Data List and Local Authority Data Burden
Newswire – LGA: The cost of buying & throwing away good food & drink reached £13.7bn last year, new analysis by the Local Government Association has revealed. The analysis, which combined the purchasing price of food which wasn’t eaten with the cost to council tax-payers of sending it to landfill, reveals that households paid an estimated £520 each for uneaten food over the past 12 months.
Town hall leaders want to see multi-buy deals, which encourage people to take more food than they need, replaced by discounts on individual products, which offer customers the same value without incentivising over-buying.
Ofsted: An Ofsted report, ‘Girls’ career aspirations’, has found that some girls are receiving weak careers education, which is making it difficult for them to make properly informed choices about courses & careers. In most of the schools visited, not enough was being done to promote the confidence, drive & ambition of girls to take risks in challenging vocational stereotypes.
Through discussions, inspectors found that girls aged 11 to 14 years had limited knowledge & understanding of how choices about courses & careers influenced pay & progression.
Through discussions, inspectors found that girls aged 11 to 14 years had limited knowledge & understanding of how choices about courses & careers influenced pay & progression.
Cebr: Biggest peacetime squeeze on household disposable incomes since 1921 – updated Cebr forecasts show real household disposable incomes down 2.0% in 2011.
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