Annual Reports
ACE: Arts Council England has published The contribution of the arts & culture to the national economy, an independent report commissioned by ACE and conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The report is the first comprehensive analysis to determine this value to the modern economy on a national scale.
The key findings include:
* arts & culture make up 0.4% of GDP – against less than 0.1% of government spending invested in the sector
* at least £856m p.a. of spending by tourists visiting the UK can be attributed directly to arts & culture
Socitm: Socitm has published a briefing for top teams in local authorities showing how they can take advantage of digital & mobile technologies in response to the challenges of austerity. Better connected 2013: a briefing for the top management team draws on research compiled for Socitm's latest annual survey of all council websites.
As well analysing the performance of websites, the research also examined councils' use of social media, email alerts, customer accounts and other digital tools for citizen engagement & service delivery. In a section Responding to the rise of mobile, the briefing points out that the use of mobile devices for accessing council websites is increasing rapidly (around 23% of visits to council websites are now made on mobile devices).
However, assessment of council website readiness for mobile rated just 8% of all councils as very good, and a further 17% as satisfactory. The remaining 75% were rated poor.
HMIC: Police custody provision in Hampshire was generally positive, but health care was in need of attention, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection.
The inspection was part of a national programme of joint inspections of police custody. It looked at 9 custody suites operating 24 hours a day: Aldershot, Basingstoke, Fareham, Lyndhurst, Newport (Isle of Wight), Portsmouth, Southampton, Waterlooville and Winchester. It also looked at two reserve suites, Alton and Havant. Overall there had been improvements, but some areas which still needed to be addressed.
Press release ~ Report on an inspection visit to police custody suites in Hampshire (12 - 16 November 2012) by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
PC&PE: In a report published last week, the Procedure Committee reviews a recent trial period in which it acted as a point of complaint for MPs about unsatisfactory or late answers to Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs), and proposes to take on this role on a permanent basis.
DWP: Fraud & error in the benefit system stands at £3.5bn or 2.1% of total benefit expenditure, latest figures show.
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