Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

NICE: NICE has published its latest commissioning guide - on ´commissioning a paediatric continence service´.  The guide draws on recent NICE guidance on the management of bedwetting and nocturnal enuresis in children & young people and on the diagnosis & management of idiopathic childhood constipation.  The commissioning guide supports commissioners to redesign services in order to improve outcomes for children and young people and to help the NHS make better use of its resources.
Press release
 
CFEBThe Consumer Financial Education Body has launched a new & interactive calculator to help people in England & Wales stay on top of their finances during a separation or divorce.  It can help people draw up a budget, work out what they have and what they owe and looks at how they might split what they have.  Designed to ensure anonymity, users of the Divorce & Separation Calculator can save their data and return to it at any time. 
Press release ~ Calculator 
 
Newswire – CIPD: Pay can often account for the largest part of organisational expenditure.  Get it wrong and employers may find that they are operating at a loss, or that they find it difficult to recruit & retain the talent they need, but get it right and it can create value for the organisation.

The latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Guide, The Pay Review Process, raises awareness of the need to establish the pay review as a business process and offers insight on how to achieve this.
Press release ~ Pay Review Process
 
Newswire – ICO: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a set of top tips on freedom of information for communications professionals working in public authorities.  The top tips, written by the ICO’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Susan Fox, who is a Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Chartered Practitioner, are designed to help communications professionals consider freedom of information as part of their communications strategy.
Press release ~ FOI tips for communications professionals ~ ICO’s full annual track research report ~ www.ico.gov.uk
 
EHRC: The Equality & Human Rights Commission has published guidance that explains what public authorities in England and non-devolved bodies in Scotland & Wales  have to do to comply with the public sector equality duty.

From 6 April 2011, when this part of the Equality Act 2010 comes into force, public authorities will need to consider what they are doing to tackle discrimination, harassment or victimisation.  The new duty includes age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
Press release ~ New public sector equality duty guidance
 
NICE: The NICE guide on commissioning a service for the management of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men, published in late 2010, aims to improve services for the estimated 1 in 4 men in England aged 40 and above who have lower urinary tract symptoms.  The guide offers advice on a range of issues, including local needs assessment & opportunities for clinical service redesign.
 
Underpinned by the NICE clinical guideline on the management of lower urinary tract symptoms in men published earlier last year (CG97), it forms part of an interactive commissioning tool, providing data for local comparison against the benchmarks and is a resource to estimate & inform the cost of commissioning decisions.
Press release
 
IfG: The Institute for Government and Public Chairs Forum (PCF) have published a joint guide to help arm's length bodies & departments manage the transitions set out by the government on the future of public bodies, announced in October 2010 – See ‘In the News’ section for more information.
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