Society daily 16.07.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Charity street collectors face crackdown • Suicide on the rise among older men • UK accused of dithering over prisoners' voting rights • Labour attacks work programme 'chaos' after forecasts revised • Welfare to work scheme co-ordinating firm goes bankrupt • Number of military veterans in prison understated, say campaigners • Coalition tries to patch rift with £9bn boost • Jackie Ashley: Beware the coming storm - cuts will break this coalition All today's SocietyGuardian stories The pick of the weekend's SocietyGuardian news and comment • Close small maternity units and centralise care, demands leading doctor • Alcohol packaging should carry graphic health warnings, urge doctors • Deborah Orr: Private sector efficiency? This lie has to stop • Not just a boy thing: how doctors are letting down girls with autism All Sunday's SocietyGuardian news and comment All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and comment On the Guardian Professional Networks • Live discussion from noon: does shared ownership still have a future? • The big hole in 'big society'. Bernard Collier argues that if government wants to get the most out of the social sector, it needs to develop a policy that addresses local needs • Maximising the potential of civil servants between 'high flyers' and 'slackers' is the key to better performance, says Martin Rayson • The government's social care proposals highlight the gulf between policymakers and service users , says Peter Beresford • Shrinking cities: are smaller economies always a bad thing , asks Alina Congreve • The Patient from Hell offers a few words of advice to Dr Mark Porter , the new chair of the BMA On my radar ... • Lord Hodgson's review of the Charities Act 2006, which has been published today, and includes proposals to crack down on charity street collectors and fake door-to-door clothing collections. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has published a number of responses to the review, including a piece by Elizabeth Chamberlain, who raises concerns about Hodgson's proposals to overhaul parts of the regulation system. She writes: Far from being a burden, most charities see registration as a good thing, since it gives them the badge of being a 'registered charity' – a welcome status in their relationship with potential funders and the general public. This is not to say that the report overall isn't to be welcomed: there are many proposals that if taken forward could really make a difference to those who run charities and have to deal with the increasing amounts of paperwork this entails. But not all regulation is bad; we trust that Government will uphold the principles that make the sector special and maintain public confidence. • Social care . So, while the Society daily was taking a break, the long-awaited care and support white paper was finally published. United Response has put together a new infographic setting out the "big numbers" of social care reform . For the social care network, Peter Beresford says the government's proposals highlight the gulf between policymakers and service users , and social work blogger Ermintrude says the white paper has good intentions but the opportunity to redesign services has been lost , and Melanie Henwood says conversation on funding care won't be easy but it does need to happen. On Twitter, John Adams, the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group general secretary comments : Coalition finds £9bn for rail network whilst elderly and disabled people can't get essential services And writing on the VODG blog , he says: We are not convinced, to use Andrew Lansley's phrase, that what was outlined amounts to a, "watershed moment in how this country cares for older and disabled people". Perhaps, to be optimistic, time will tell. More likely, it will be a case of social care histroy repeating itself and any hints at visionary change will end up gathering dust on the shelf along with all the other commission reports and government recommendations over the last 20 years. What does seem clear is that if you or a loved-one is in need of social care and support anytime soon getting the help you need – unless you can afford to pay for it yourself – will continue to be a huge struggle. With local government facing a 28% funding reduction, no amount of fine words or good intentions will change that reality for people – probably for years to come. It was a full year ago that we argued on this blog that the government must find the courage to succeed where previous administrations have failed and exploit what Dilnot himself described as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to create a fair and sustainable system of social care. Little wonder the economist was [last week] reported as saying his commission's changes should have been implemented "immediately", before adding: "It would have been best for all of us". • Recommended reading on Colin Talbot's Whitehall Watch blog on the timing of the government's next spending review : ... the Spending Review is fast becoming something the Coalition government cannot live with and cannot live without. It cannot live with it because there are some very hard choices to be made which do not divide Ministers, yet, on purely Party lines (as I wrote earlier) but as the Election and 'divorce' get nearer they surely will become more and more Party political. There is a very real danger that a Spending Review in 2013 will bring forward the divorce earlier than either Party want it to happen. At the very least, it will make the shambolic leaking in the run-up to Budget 2012 look small beer by comparison to the torrent of briefing and counter-briefing that could drag on for months or even more than a year (i.e from now until SR2013 in October next year). On the other hand there is no way the Government cannot make substantial adjustments to its spending plans fairly soon, given both the short-term bleak economic situation and the emerging debate about long-term trends (see the Office of Budget Responsibility and Institute for Fiscal Studies reports this week). They simply have to do something, and indeed already have made many changes to their plans since October 2010. True, they haven't adjusted the overall spending envelope very much, but they have made lots of small re-arrangements of the deck-chairs. I have no idea how this will unfold, but what is becoming clear is that the Spending Review may, perhaps unexpectedly, turn out to be the rock on which the Coalition founders. (thanks to Dave Briggs for the link) Other news • BBC: TV habits 'predict kids' weights' • Children & Young People Now: Paediatricians warn dearth of data on premature babies harms child protection efforts • Independent: Children's heart units fight the threat of closure • Inside Housing: Construction figures show sharp fall in new homes • Telegraph: Benefits cap 'pushing thousands into work' • Third Sector: Large charities should be allowed to pay trustees without permission, says Hodgson SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton on Twitter Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected]