Society daily 08.06.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Care providers favouring richer pensioners, survey finds • Driving test examiners and coastguards to strike • Red Road demolition ends Glasgow tower blocks' high art • Two million children can be saved by tackling pneumonia and diarrhoea • Our diamond jubilee volunteers were well treated – we've nothing to hide • On pensioners, Iain Duncan Smith is right: 'granny bashing' is fair • 'Safe havens' to be offered to bullied teenagers • Risk of falling into poverty in the UK remains above EU average All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • The social care white paper offers an opportunity to put housing at the centre of a sustainable care system • At the Global Africa Diaspora summit, African officials came together to discuss how to clamp down on procurement fraud • Ideas orthodoxy about impact measurement among charities is suffocating its development and putting smaller organisations at a disadvantage • Solving social problems is difficult enough for social enterprises, but when you're not even sure how to define them, things get even tougher • The chief executive of the General Medical Council explains why revalidation for doctors is key for ensuring safe care On my radar ... • The Nominet Trust recently launched a new social investment programme that provides financial support for projects which use digital technology to improve young people's economic and social participation. In a blog about the panel discussion that accompanied the launch, Dan Sutch, head of development research at Nominet, reveals some startling facts about the problems facing young people . He writes: "... young people from Middlesbrough are ten times more likely to be unemployed as those from wealthy Wokingham. Compared to the average, those from Middlesbrough are almost three times as likely to be unemployed. Only 1% of young people from Kingston upon Hull go to a red brick university compared to 34% of those from Wimbledon." Sutch continues: "It's not difficult to construct a list of youth policy challenges – unemployment, social exclusion, political disengagement – but addressing these issues requires action from both young and old, as Shaun Bailey [the conservative politician and youth worker] commented, 'young people need to show commitment, willingness and drive to create their own 'personal legend', adults need to help them find the opportunities'." • The focus on young people driving their own participation in society is also apparent with the news that the Money Skills champions programme is rolling out nationally. The project aims to equip young people with the necessary skills to manage their own finances. Children and Young People Now report : "The project aims to recruit young people who are classed as Neet, giving them skills and 'money know-how' training to then go on to share the knowledge with their peer group. "Eventually it is hoped that 5,000 young people will be trained as 'champions', who can then go on to share financial capability skills with up to 100,000 other young people." • Oxfam's latest campaign, ' See For Yourself ', saw Jodie Sandford, an Oxfam supporter, travel to Zimbabwe to gain first-hand experience of how her charitable donations are spent. The idea behind the campaign is interesting: a major barrier to charitable giving is an uncertainty among donors about how far their money really goes and whether it actually makes a difference to the grassroots cause. It is hoped that by sending supporters to witness the work of Oxfam for themselves, this mistrust will be overcome. Taking the campaign a step further, Oxfam is now searching specifically for a non-Oxfam supporter to travel to Malawi to visit their projects and report back. Paul Vanags, head of public fundraising at Oxfam, said: "We believe that the most powerful way to encourage more people to give is to show them our work through the eyes of someone impartial who's never seen it before." Other news • BBC: Brain training 'helps treat depression' • Telegraph: Pensioner couples £4,000 a year worse off in three years • Independent: Figures show rich homeowners avoiding billions in stamp duty • Inside Housing: Report – reforms could hamper social mobility • Third Sector: Big Lottery Fund awards Scottish training and employment charities more than £1m • Public Finance: Misguided on means testing Guardian Public Services Awards 2012 - Entries open until 13 July Enter the Guardian Public Service Awards to showcase your teams' innovative approaches. The awards are designed to reward creative achievements and contributions that have helped to establish more effective and best practice across public services in a tough spending climate. Enter today to ensure you get the recognition you deserve. Events and seminars Identifying, measuring and demonstrating social value Tuesday 12 June, Kings Cross, London The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 highlights the need for the public sector to ensure suppliers can demonstrate social, economic and environmental concerns are at the heart of public sector contracts.This seminar looks at the importance of measurement and assessment techniques, embedding social values through tendering and contract management, and a variety of evaluation and monitoring tools. Scrutiny: making an impact Tuesday 26 June, Kings Cross, London This interactive seminar challenges traditional approaches to scrutiny, demonstrating in-depth questioning techniques and exploring the use of video evidence. It also considers the difference between a finding and a recommendation, how to word recommendations so they can't be ignored and work through good practice to evaluate each scrutiny process. Making the most of social media for social housing Friday 29 June, Kings Cross, London This overview of social media channels will show you how to use them to maximum effect, with clear, practical examples of ways to save money, improve your communications and form a social media campaign 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 Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area Public Leaders - the Guardian's website for senior managers of public services 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]