Society daily 07.03.11

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • NHS shakeup risks return to 1930s, warns leading doctor • Cameron: Civil service 'enemies of enterprise' • Ministers poised for battle over public sector pensions • Charity mounts legal challenge to welfare reform • George Monbiot: We know what to march against on 26 March; here's what to protest for • Officers sue to stop firm taking over jails • Childline reports rise in calls from children in care • Councils fear census flaws will cost them millions in lost funds All today's SocietyGuardian stories Other news • The future of at least 50 hospitals is under threat from the unprecedented squeeze on NHS finances , reports the Independent. Alarm about cuts to services outweighs all other concerns for senior managers of NHS trusts as they struggle to balance their books, the NHS Confederation says. Worries about finances far outstrip concerns about implementing the Government's reforms, which some dismiss as a sideshow. About 70 hospital trusts in England have failed to achieve the financial performance and quality of care necessary to become foundation trusts and "a significant number" have "large recurrent deficits", according to the King's Fund. • School crossing patrols are being axed as local authorities cut back on their road safety budgets , according to the Telegraph. Road safety groups fear that this could reverse the trend which has seen deaths and injuries falling every year since 2003. Their fears are voiced in a report by the RAC Foundation and the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. • David Cameron received an official reprimand from the head of the civil service following 'unacceptable' behaviour from special advisers to Eric Pickles , according to Inside Housing. • Also in Inside Housing, a report that an arm's-length management organisation has launched an investigation after a swimming pool was found in the back garden of one of its homes near Doncaster. On my radar ... • Left Out in the Cold, the new campaign from the Broken of Britain , which aims to highlight the government's planned cuts to disability benefits . Ahead of the second reading of the welfare reform bill tomorrow, Left Out in the Cold - featuring a naked photograph of the Broken of Britain's Kaliya Franklin lying on a wintry beach next to her empty wheelchair - "demonstrates what the result would be for disabled people across the UK if disability benefits are slashed to the bare minimum". Franklin said: "I was absolutely frozen when I took my clothes off for the photo shoot but it was nothing like as cold I and other disabled people will be if the government removes our essential benefits." In a letter to disabled people's minister Maria Miller , a number of MPs and social policy professors say: "The reasons for this reform are unclear, as reported by the social security advisory committee, with ministers denying that cuts are the motivation for change. Objectivity and independence of assessment are some of the reasons offered by the minister for disabled people and while we understand there may be a case for a more objective assessment of needs, we believe that evidence from GPs and specialists should be sufficient in many cases as it is at present. We are concerned that the reasons given by the minister suggest GPs and specialists cannot be trusted to provide medical evidence. This seems to conflict with the secretary of state for health's policy of increasing GP responsibility for commissioning NHS services." Meanwhile, a major protest against spending cuts and welfare reforms has been announced by the UK Disabled People's Council Disabled, scheduled for 11 May. • The Whose Shoes blog, which poses the question Personalisation – it's all about you! Or is it now all about money? (thanks @monstertalk ) • Savings watch (nothing to do with ISAs or interest rates). After Sunny Hundal's claim that BBC journalists have been urged to use the word "savings" rather than "cuts", as mentioned in last Thursday's Society daily , Hundal has posted a couple of genuine BBC "savings" stories on the Liberal Conspiracy website. How ridiculous is the term "savings threat"? See also the Twitter hashtag #savingsnotcuts , which leads to my tweet of the day from @BorisWatch: "After the defeat of the Royalists, King Charles I has his head saved off" • March for the Alternative , the slogan for the anti-cuts protest planned for 26 March. • The enemies of enterprise . After David Cameron used his spring conference speech to accuse public servants of using bureaucracy to hold back entrepreneurs, Julian Dobson warns against the PM's blame game : "... if we want to identify 'enemies' of enterprise, is to recognise the effect on small and emerging businesses of media giants like News International, retailers like Tesco and Wal-Mart, the major construction and energy companies, and the big accountancy and outsourcing firms. These are the people who squeeze out the small businesses and independents, who employ teams to swing planning decisions in their favour, have sufficient capital to undercut and outmuscle the competition in procurement processes, who have teams of lobbyists arguing their case in Westminster. These are the people who sponsor dinners attended by ministers and think tanks' research reports, who benefit from tax breaks, and who finance political parties. If David Cameron is serious about creating a climate where the most enterprising are enabled to succeed, shouldn't he have something to say about them?" • These thoughts on the big society from Salford council leader John Merry on the New Start blog: "That new game, the Big Society, has so far failed to grasp the attention of the ordinary voter. It is a concept that is seen as largely theoretical and has little or no relationship with the issues affecting them. A massive issue right now is the risk to individuals and families of the reform of the welfare benefits system, in all its guises attacking incapacity benefit, lone parents, the education maintenance allowance, housing benefit and rent reforms. This is a pivotal moment, and we must work with partners and communities to be 'Big' on understanding who is most at risk; 'Big' on ensuring they can't miss the support that is available to them; 'Big' on ensuring support is joined up and well targeted and 'Big' on delivery that places the customer at the centre of what we do; using public, community and voluntary sectors to ensure people have as positive an experience as possible." • Interesting data analysis on the Wishful thinking in medical education blog following the Guardian's Saturday story about antidepressant prescribing differences around England. • Andrew Lansley , the health secretary, who is taking part in a live Q&A session on the BMA website from 7pm tonight. • This photography scheme from the City Life Project in Hull , which has given single use cameras to its clients (thanks @photomoments ) SocietyGuardian weekend highlights • Having children helped my depression • What effect has the internet had on disability? • Long-life Britain and the price we will all have to pay All yesterday's SocietyGuardian news and features All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and features On the Guardian Professional Networks • The Department of Health has announced two new advertising campaigns worth nearly £2m, despite the apparent freeze in marketing spending by the government. • Scotland is planning to extend high speed broadband nationwide by 2015 , with the hope of having higher speeds than the rest of the UK. • Cutting advice services will cost the government more in the long run, says Paul Treloar of Lasa, a charity which advises other voluntary groups. 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