Society daily 11.05.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • UK's poorest face tightest squeeze • £1.4bn regional growth fund not value for money, says finance watchdog • NHS sleeping pill spend leaps to £50m • Starkey makes 'cultural' link to gang jailed for sexually exploiting girls • Road safety budget cuts risking lives, advisers warn • Household chemicals' 'cocktail effect' raises cancer concerns for watchdog • Edited NHS risk register is published in partial climbdown • Repossessions by local authority - visualised and listed • Letters: Disabled workers fight to save Remploy factory jobs • Letters: Parliament fails to accommodate growing housing problem All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • Hannah Fearn: Why we need a licence for private landlords • Richard Vize: Lack of comprehensive social care reform bill is 'unforgivable failure' • We cannot afford to delay social care funding reforms , says Melanie Henwood • The impact of the Olympics on London transport could make commuting difficult. Richard Cooper from the Charity Technology Trust asks if remote working could help your office • Ex-Apprentice star and social entrepreneur Melodi Hossaini reflects on episode eight of the BBC show and how personal branding is important in social enterprise On my radar ... • Some jawdropping tales in itsmotherswork's Twitter feed . She invited teachers to share their stories of pupils arriving at school hungry. The combined stories (surely worth building into a Storify collection) build a shocking picture of food poverty , and schools, nurseries and playgroups acting as an emergency service. Sadly, some tweets point out that the situation hasn't improved over recent decades. itsmotherswork says : Expected some responses, but not nearly so many, or so strong. Situation worse than I realised. • Civil servants . Alastair Campbell today follows up the Telegraph's story claiming the "worst" civil servants face the sack. Campbell notes the comment of a minister that he is in favour of sacking 90%, and paying the remaining 10% more money: Both TB and GB at times felt the frustrations now seemingly being voiced by David Cameron. But he is making a big mistake if he thinks the answer is a massacre on the scale seemingly being canvassed. His senior aide Steve Hilton, now off to America, made no secret of his feeling that the civil service was top to bottom mediocre and a brake on any meaningful change. But I can point to lots of policy areas in our early years in government when they made a real difference for the better both in policy making and implementation. But they had to be well led by the politicians, and that is perhaps what is missing. One of the worst aspects of the current leadership of the country is the seeming desire to blame the whole time. Today it looks like it is the civil service copping it. But whilst no doubt there are some in there who would struggle to find work elsewhere, there is plenty of talent and the key is making sure it is well used. I can't help thinking that getting them all to read about how useless they are, and how nine out of ten may be facing the sack, is not a very sensible form of leadership at a time when the leader is losing his reputation for competence, and being assailed from many sides because of a lack of strategy. • A timely retweet of a blogpost on community cohesion by Maxine Moar, who attended a recent ICoco conference on cohesion, At Ease With Eath Other . She writes: What was interesting was that even though the speakers had raised points that the mainly liberal minded audience had not expected there were hardly any challenges from the floor during question time. Why was this? Simple, we expect a conference on community cohesion to provide a safe platform that all involved can expect to hear comforting like minded views that allow people to feel happy about being part of the solution whilst confirming their political correctness. The points raised by the floor at past conferences would mainly have told ministers that they weren't adding enough money to the millions already ploughed into race issues and short term integration projects. This time no one bothered, perhaps there was a feeling of it being pointless to ask. What did we learn? That immigration is an area of discussion that everyone is too scared to really address to any depth for fear of being called racist. It's clear that people are no longer sure when common sense and plain speaking becomes racism so best say nothing. From my observations it was clear that the race debates now need to happen in an honest and open manner as the race and cohesion agenda has been left with no direction from Ministers within the Coalition. Is life in a Northern town happy or a perfect storm waiting to happen? Has the past Labour Government left behind a legacy of silence that drove underground logical debate for fear of the politically correct brigade labeling them? Have far too many decisions been made from Whitehall, leaving people to suffer on all sides as a result of their blinkered naivety? Eric Pickles certainly hid behind the old retoric of I'm not racist because I have a black friend, and in a world of no certainty and uncertainty of what is the correct thing to say all reminded quiet. I praise ICOCO for starting this debate but the conference hall was not the safe place to have the discussions that needed to follow and that was clear from a lack of challenges to speakers. So what next? Lets have the debates in smaller groups where people can feel safe to ask what is next and how can we put this important agenda back on the table. Lets get MPs engaged in those conversations so they become aware of the issues, fears and concerns and how they can get all members of the community to vote, but not by being divisive and using race as a tool to win elections and divide the nation even more. Something we are starting to see as an election strategy. (thanks to the Dragon Fairy for the link) • #relaycampaign , which is urging telecomms companies to improve deaf people's access to telecommunications . Campaigners, including the leaders of the UK's main deaf charities, have written an open letter to the chief executives of BT, O2, Vodafone, Three, Talk Talk, KCom, Virgin Media, Everything Everywhere and BskyB, accusing the industry is worsening inequalities by delaying the introduction of specialised relay services, which allow deaf people to use telecommunications. The campaign, spearheaded by VRS Today , coincides with Deaf Awareness Week. The charities say a video relay service, which allows BSL users to speak in sign language over the telephone, via a video interpreter at speeds close to standard conversation, would mean "equality and opportunity for tens of thousands of people". Meanwhile, the National Deaf Children's Society has launched a new campaign - Look, Smile Chat - which aims to tackle the isolation experienced by many deaf teenagers at school. The charity has made a series of short films to explain the issue Other news • BBC: Charity tax relief cuts 'will affect very few' • Children & Young People Now: SEN legislation 'built on quicksand' • Community Care: Councils attack government's 'misleading' adoption scorecards • Independent: Credit unions urged to modernise • Inside Housing: Shapps issues B&B warning to councils • Telegraph: Worst civil servants to be ranked, then sacked • Third Sector: Most businesses in a survey say they are better equipped than charities to deliver social change Events and seminars Managing volunteers Tuesday 15 May, Kings Cross, London Engaging with volunteers is an increasingly challenging task. This half-day seminar will help you explore what 21st century volunteers want and what you need to do to involve them effectively. Delivered by expert Rob Jackson, this session is a must for anyone building a long-term volunteer engagement strategy. Digital engagement surgery Thursday 17 May, Kings Cross, London This engaging and participatory workshop will look at real-life scenarios and how charities are using digital techniques to collaborate and communicate. Attendees will be asked bring challenges in with them (submitted advance), which will be shared in a workshop format to collectively tackle common themes running through the sector. Successful bid writing Friday 18 May, Kings Cross, London Bid writing is an essential skill in voluntary sector organisations. This interactive seminar will help you create applications and bids that demonstrate your organisation's strengths and priorities, how you differ from other projects, what the benefits are for your clients and the community and how you'll be able to measure them. Social media for health and social care Thursday 31 May, Kings Cross, London With massive changes facing health and social care provision the need for clear, open and accessible communication channels is greater than ever. Whether you are looking to improve engagement with patients, clients and peers, promote your services or increase media coverage, this practical, interactive seminar tailored for health professionals will show you how social media can help you do it. 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. The Guardian Public Health Dialogue Thursday 28 June, Kings Cross, London The Health and Social Care Act 2012 is the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the NHS to date bringing new challenges in shaping public health strategies. Join experts from the NHS, local and central government, charities, social enterprises and industry for an evening of discussion on the role of commissioning and the challenges it will bring in an ever changing market. 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]