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General Reports and Other Publications
LSN: Organisations supporting the NHS must improve screening. John Baxter, Learning and Skills Network (LSN) - Assistant Director of Public Services, had an opinion piece featured in the Times recently.
In it John discusses the need for enhanced & uniform procedures for checking standards across the health service, which are vital after locums made critical errors in diagnosis:
In it John discusses the need for enhanced & uniform procedures for checking standards across the health service, which are vital after locums made critical errors in diagnosis:
Newswire – CH: Chatham House has published a report (Shifting from Emergency Response to Prevention of Pandemic Disease Threats at Source) of a conference - Strengthening Collaboration between Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health Sectors - held by them on 16-17 March 2010.
Newswire – Demos: The upcoming election will bypass Britain’s 7.4m 16-25 year olds because of a focus on short-term vote winning rather than the long term problems facing younger generations, according to a report published by Demos recently.
An Anatomy of Youth, which was produced with v, The National Young Volunteers Service, says that the failure of the current political debate to adequately discuss problems like long term economic recovery, climate change, the care gap and communities under strain is turning youngsters away from politics altogether, despite evidence that many are passionate about politics & social issues.
The research sets out 5 major challenges young people will inherit and the extent of the sacrifices they will be forced to make in future: Citizenship, Climate Change, Care & families, Digital identity and Community. The report, found young people across Britain were keen to contribute to society, but see little evidence that mainstream politics tries to include young people in decisions outside of ‘youth issues’.
LSN: In partnership with the Learning and Skills Network (LSN), Dubai Men’s College is hosting a Nexus networking event this coming 6 May. The event will discuss issues highlighted in a recent report from the Dubai School of Government, which identified the low engagement of Emirati males in education as a major area for concern.
Newswire – IoD: The Institute of Directors has responded to the government’s consultation on a Stewardship Code for Institutional Investors.
Press release ~ Full IoD response to the consultation ~ IoD ~ Consultation (closed) on a Stewardship Code for Institutional Investors
Newswire: New research the University of Birmingham and the University of Manchester warns that there’s no quick fix for tackling public sector failure. In fact it is often a harder & slower process than governments and regulators are willing to admit.
When things go wrong, as has been well-documented in the Baby Peter case, regulators are too willing to blame frontline workers, or sack chief executives. However the research shows that failure is rarely as the result of an individual’s performance; rather it is systemic & organisational in nature.
The 5-year project – partially funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – showed that organisations need to improve their ability to learn - specifically, to acquire, assimilate and then apply knowledge to improve their own performance.
Newswire – CUK: Children may inherit the urge to exercise, but their environment often stops them from doing so, say Cancer Research UK researchers. In a study of over 100 pairs of twins, the authors found that most of the variation in how fidgety the twins were and whether they enjoyed exercise is influenced by differences in their genes. But the amount of exercise children actually get is mainly influenced by their family, neighbourhood or school environment.
Press release ~ Health Behaviour Research Centre ~ Obesity and body weight ~ Physical activity ~ London ~ PLoS ONE
Newswire – Demos: A ‘no claims bonus’ for employers that keep staff in work & off benefits should be at the heart of an aggressive Government drive to get people into work, according to a study published by Demos.
As the full impact of the recession on jobs becomes clear Liberation Welfare says that the aim of the welfare system should be tackling unemployment, not curing problems like family breakdown, child development & community cohesion.
As the full impact of the recession on jobs becomes clear Liberation Welfare says that the aim of the welfare system should be tackling unemployment, not curing problems like family breakdown, child development & community cohesion.
With 1.7m people unemployed at the last count, the collection calls for the biggest overhaul of the £158bn welfare system for 20 years, based on the idea of ‘liberation welfare’.
A liberation welfare state is based on the principles of power, reciprocity, and job & income security, with people encouraged to plan & save for financial shocks like redundancy. It says government benefits should be higher, but harder to claim.
A liberation welfare state is based on the principles of power, reciprocity, and job & income security, with people encouraged to plan & save for financial shocks like redundancy. It says government benefits should be higher, but harder to claim.
Newswire – TWF: The cost of working when ill, or 'sickness presence', could match or account for 1.5 times more working time lost than the cost of sickness absence, which has been estimated at around £13bn annually. Sickness absence is widely measured & monitored across the public & private sectors, with a strong focus on reducing levels of absenteeism.
But could a lack of understanding around ‘presenteeism’ mean that organisations are unaware of hidden costs and missing opportunities to improve productivity along with employee health & wellbeing?
One of the UK's first studies investigating the links between sickness presence and individual performance - Why do employees come to work when ill? - has been published by The Work Foundation. It examines why employees attend work when unwell & addresses a gap in UK data on sickness presence.
Press release ~ Why Do Employees Come to Work When Ill? An investigation into sickness presence in the workplace
Newswire – IoD: The IoD has renewed its call to all political parties to take the issue of over-regulation of business seriously. Using a new approach to measure the cost of regulation, based on the experiences of real people running real businesses, the IoD believes that the cost to business of Government regulation is now running at more than £80bn a year. This equates to 5.7% of the UK’s GDP.
Newswire – HSO: Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has published a report on her recent consultation; Sharing and Publishing Information about Complaints. The consultation was timely because of the increased focus on the importance of information about complaints following events in Mid-Staffordshire & elsewhere.
Recent changes in the NHS complaints system, particularly the abolition of the Healthcare Commission as a second stage complaint handler, had also led to some confusion about the volume & scope of information that the Ombudsman could & would make available, given the legislation that governs her work.
Respondents were supportive of the proposal to publish an annual NHS Complaint Handling Performance Report.
Press release ~ Full report ~ Closed consultation: Sharing and Publishing Information about Complaints
Newswire – IoD: A report, published by the Institute of Directors (IoD), estimates that at least £500bn will need to be spent on the UK’s energy, transport, water and ICT infrastructure between now & 2020 so that the UK can maintain its economic competitiveness.
However, the gap between what is needed in terms of finance from the public sector and what it can afford has probably never been wider because of the huge fiscal deficit. But instead of cutting infrastructure spending by half over the next 4 years (as the Government proposes) the IoD argue that public spending on infrastructure should be ring-fenced because of the positive effects this type of expenditure has on economic growth.
So how can this be done while paying down public debt? Radical financing solutions are needed, the report says. One option is that the next Government takes all future proceeds from bank privatisation and uses them to pay for new infrastructure. Potential revenue here could be £50bn plus.
Newswire – Demos: The Edge of Violence (published by Demos) reports on two year-long international study of the characteristics of both violent & non-violent Islamic radicals.
The report finds that young Muslims interested in violence have more in common with other subversive groups, such as gangs & football hooligans, than with peaceful radicalised Muslims.
The clear message from the research is that government & security services must clearly distinguish between violent & non-violent radicalisation.
The report finds that young Muslims interested in violence have more in common with other subversive groups, such as gangs & football hooligans, than with peaceful radicalised Muslims.
The clear message from the research is that government & security services must clearly distinguish between violent & non-violent radicalisation.
The report questions some of the ‘root-causes’ of terrorism, because both violent & non-violent radicals had experienced social exclusion, had a distrust of government, a hatred for foreign policy and many had an identity crisis of sorts.
What is more, non-violent radicals did not see Islam as an entirely pacifistic religion at all – but rather one which follows ‘just war’ principles, in which terrorism in the West has no part.
In response to the CLG Committee report on ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’, The Edge of Violence agrees that the Government’s Prevent strategy has suffered from ‘mission drift’. The report argues that the Government’s Prevent strategy should be narrowed to focus solely on interventions with individuals exhibiting a clear shift to violence.
Press release ~ The edge of violence; a radical approach to extremism ~ CLG Committee report on ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ ~
Newswire – INLOGOV: A report (LinkAge Plus: Capacity building – enabling and empowering older people as independent and active citizens) of research carried out by INLOGOV, University of Birmingham on behalf of the LinkAge Plus National Evaluation Team, the Local Government Centre, Warwick Business School and the Department for Work and Pensions.
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