WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

CSJIt’s not as though there are not enough examples of Good & Bad Practice - Britain’s system of spending public money needs a fundamental shake-up to eliminate waste & boost results, according to a major new report from think-tank Centre for Social Justice.  Whitehall decisions about the allocation of £700bn of taxpayer’s money should be made on the basis of clearly defined objectives and not vague hopes of improving people’s lives, the report says.

The report from the CSJ is highly critical of Whitehall’s historic approach to making spending decisions.  For decades, spending programmes overseen by successive governments have lacked clear objectives and have been poorly managed & monitored.  One example comes from a Public Accounts Committee report, which concluded: “The Government spends £1.2 billion a year tackling problem drug use, yet does not know what overall effect this spending has.” 

The report calls on Ministers to create a new body – the Office of Spending Effectiveness – which would work with established organisations such as the Office of National Statistics and the National Audit Office – to check spending plans from government departments for their likely effectiveness before they are approved. 
Press release ~ CSJ ~ Outcome-based Government – Full report ~ Executive Summary ~ Social Return on Investment Network ~ nef: Valuing what Matters ~ The SROI Primer ~ The Ambitions and Challenges of SROI ~ Breakthrough Britain. Ending the Costs of Social breakdown ~ Washington State Institute for Public Policy – Costs and Benefits ~ ‘Payment for success- How to shift power from Whitehall to public service customers, KPMG, 2010 ~ DWP, Research Report No.366 ‘Gateway to Work New Deal 25 Plus pilots evaluation’ ~ HM Treasury, ‘Spending Review 2010’ 20 October 2010   (see p.16 para. 1,10) ~ PAC, Tackling problem drug use, March 2010, p.5 para. 1 ~ NAO: Tackling problem drug use ~ Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS) ~ Awareness projects press release ~ Sir Roy McNulty: Rail value for money report ~ Build and Beyond: The (r)evolution of healthcare PPPs ~ AC: All value for money good practice ~ OFT: Commissioning & competition in the public sector ~ Final report on public perceptions of the benefits of HE ~ Summary report published by Universities UKDying for Change ~ Related NAO press release regarding M25 widening ~ Measuring Neighbourhood Watch: Views of Effectiveness ~ NAO:  ;Central government's use of consultants and interims ~ Strategic Financial Management in Councils: delivering services with a reduced income ~ NAO:  Reducing the cost of procuring Fire & Rescue Service vehicles and specialist equipment ~ NAO:  ;Assessing the impact of proposed new policies ~ NAO: The performance and management of hospital PFI contracts ~ PFI: £70m bill for schools that had to close ~ NAO:  Assurance for high risk projects ~ OGC Gateway reviews ~ Major Project Review Group ~ NAO:  Commercial skills for complex government projects ~ Value For Money in public sector corporate services - A joint project by the UK Public Sector Audit Agencies ~ Public service reform in Scotland ~ Capability review website ~ KF: Value for money Health Service press release ~ Valuable lessons ~ ESRC – The Management of Second Best ~ NAO MoD Black Hole press release ~ Ministry of Defence: Major Projects Report 2009 ~ Review of Arrangements for Efficiencies from Smarter Procurement in Local Government ~ AC: View the updated VfM profiles ~ NAO: Department of Health - Young people’s sexual health: the National Chlamydia Screening Programme ~ Necessity - not nicety: A new commercial operating model for the NHS and Department of Health ~ NAO: Help for public sector services ~ Value for Money: Government Guidance See also last item in this section for a new model for public service delivery

Defra:  With recent food price rises behind much of world’s political unrest this is not something that can be ignored by politicians - There needs to be a worldwide agricultural revolution, with farmers growing more food at less cost to the environment, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said last week .  

Responding to Foresight’s report on global food and farming futures, Mrs Spelman and Mr Mitchell said that there was a role for governments, the private sector & consumers to play throughout the entire food system in achieving future food security.

The Foresight report estimates that a third of the world’s food is currently being wasted, and that halving food waste by 2050 would have the same effect as increasing food production today by 25%.  As part of its response, the UK Government will work with the private sector and other countries to learn and share good practice.
Press release ~ Foresight report on global food and farming futures ~ Project website ~ Previous BIS press release ~ GOS: Food ~ Arab Regimes Fear Bread Intifadah ~ Food and Innovation Research Strategy – Food 2030 ~ UK food security ~ Foresight: Land Use Futures ~ Foresight Programme – Environmental Migration ~ UK Cross-Government Strategy for Food Research and Innovation ~ EFRA Committee report on securing food supplies up to 2050 ~ International drivers of sustainable and secure food ~ Ensuring UK food security in a changing world ~ Council of Food Policy Advisors ~ United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation ~ Chatham House - UK Food Supply in the 21st Century: The New Dynamic ~ Strategy Unit report: ‘Food Matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st Century’ ~ Eldis – Food Security ~ FAO - Special programme for food security ~ Oxfam: Rethinking Food Security in Humanitarian Response ~ Global Food Trends - Overview ~ FIVIMS - Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping ~ Christian Aid: Fighting food shortages – Hungry for Change ~ Action Aid: Failing the Rural Poor ~ Mapping and Analysis of the Resilience of the Food Supply Chain in Scotland ~ ScotGov: Food and Drink information ~ Food Security: The Role for the Scottish Government in Ensuring Continuity of Food Supply to And Within Scotland and Access to Affordable Food ~ ESRC funded: New Security Challenges ~ One World – Food Security ~ Global Food Security ~ Major international research initiative launched to improve food security for developing countries ~ UKabc ~ Scuba Rice DFID press release ~ Impacts of Climate Change on Chinese Agriculture ~ Chars Livelihood Programme ~ International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ ~ Human Tide: the real migration crisis ~ Food Security, Farming, and Climate Change to 2050 ~ Crop Wild Relatives: Plant conservation for food security

Newswire – NHSCNot everyone can get to their GP’s surgery within a few minutes or at minimal cost - A new NHS Confederation report says the over-reliance on treatment delivered through face-to-face contact means the ‘NHS risks being stuck in the technological dark ages as new ways of communication become the norm’.
 
Remote control, the patient-practitioner relationship in a digital age says that, while for many of the NHS’ main users (especially the very old) face-to-face will continue to be the most sensible way to provide care, for an ever-growing number it is not.  More & more people expect to be able to manage parts of their healthcare remotely using modern communication technologies, as they do with other areas of their life.

The NHS has to cater for this section of society to offer high-quality care and ensure that resources can be used more appropriately where face-to-face contact is the best option. NHSC acting chief executive Nigel Edwards said: “There are lots of pilots and studies showing how new communications technologies can improve care but they are rarely fully taken up so we know important barriers still remain in taking up these new technologies. …………. We need to address these barriers as people increasingly expect to access services online. It simply cannot be sustainable in the health service of the future for skilled NHS staff to continue to send on referral letters using second class post.”
Press release ~ Remote control, the patient-practitioner relationship in a digital age ~ Video of expert seminar on the multi-channel NHS, held in June 2010 ~ Armchair involvement ~ Pulmonary Rehabilitation Telehealth Project ScotGov press release ~ Scottish telehealth personal healthcare system PR ~ Telecare – JIT (Joint Improvement Team) ~ Telecare-related links ~ KF: Engaging Patients in their Health: How the NHS needs to change ~ NHS Choices - Telecare ~ eHealth ~ The European Centre for Connected Health ~ WSD Action Network ~ RCN: Telehealth and telecare ~ Building Telecare in England ~ Whole System Demonstrator ~ Buying Solutions: Telecare & Telehealth ~ Centre for Rural Health (CRH) ~ Completed projects summaries

HOCounter-terrorism is much more than ‘Detention Orders’ - New measures to rebalance Britain’s counter-terrorism powers and restore British freedoms whilst protecting the public were outlined by the Home Secretary, Theresa May last week.  The recommendations follow a comprehensive review of counter-terrorism powers and legislation which sought to assess whether they were necessary, effective and proportionate.

In some areas counter-terrorism & security powers were found to be neither proportionate nor necessary and the recommendations are designed to restore British freedoms, while enabling the police & security services to continue to protect the public and national security.
Press release ~ Changes to counter terrorism powers recommended ~ Counter-terrorism ~ Review documents ~ Read the Parliament statement ~ EHRC response press release ~ Global Uncertainties ~ British Perceptions of National Security, Civil Liberties and Human Rights ~ New Security Challenges – Research Projects ~ NSC - publications ~ Liberty ~ Innovative Science and Technology in Counter-Terrorism - INSTINCT ~ Counter Terrorism Science & Technology Centre ~ Office for Security and Counter Terrorism website ~ Directgov: Reporting Terrorism ~ Photography and Counter-Terrorism legislation ~ National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) ~ Centre for the Protection of the National InfrastructureWatch a video about CONTEST ~ FAC: Report on Future inter-parliamentary scrutiny of EU foreign, defence and security policy ~ 6th report - Money laundering: data protection for suspicious activity reports ~ Related recent press release ~ Demos: From Suspects to Citizens ~ TFTP: Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor ~ Demos: The edge of violence; a radical approach to extremism ~ CLG Committee report on ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ ~ Prevent strategy ~ The Prevent strategy: a textbook example of how to alienate just about everybody ~ Office of Surveillance Commissioners ~ Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public ~ LGA response press release

Industry News:  A new model for public service delivery: The Social Investment Business - Public service reform is central to the Government’s Big Society and Localism agendas. There are many innovative new ways Local Authorities can adapt to reach these goals including enabling social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups to play a leading role in delivering local public services. These include new models for financing and delivering public services that combine outcomes based contracts, social impact bonds, payment by results, civil society consortia, partnerships and mutuals.

The benefits of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) delivering services are clear – building social capital, reach into communities, knowledge of local need, cost effectiveness, innovation and social impact. However, CSOs face multiple barriers in bidding for, winning and delivering pubic sector contracts.

The Social Investment Business manages Government funds on behalf of the Office for Civil Society, the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, with over 1,100 active investments. If you are a public sector decision maker or a CSO involved in public service delivery and would like to know more about the support services that we as The Social Investment Business can offer, please click on the link HERE
Over 1100 active investments helping deliver better public services....find out more  image.
Please choose from the links below to view individual sections of interest: