Society daily 19.07.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • David Cameron says austerity measures could continue into next decade • Children of Olympic boroughs have deteriorating life and health prospects • MPs push for tighter rules on alcohol ads and sponsorship • UK housing costs the third highest in Europe • 'Warehouse' prisons falling short of Kenneth Clarke's rehabilitation pledge • Doctors suspend strike over pension reforms • Research pours cold water on alleged benefits of sports products • Zoe Williams: The real 'problem' with these families is that they're poor • David Nutt: Scientists' agony over ecstasy All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • Can the Olympic experience help change the face of volunteering ? • New awards aim to highlight adoption services that achieve life-changing results for children • The Olympic legacy : creating a new community for London in Stratford • Why the Co-operative is championing community energy • The first UK people's health assembly meeting at Nottingham Trent University shapes social movement on health On my radar ... • Amelia Gentleman's latest report on the rise of charity food banks . Gentleman writes: The boom in Britain's food banks reflects a number of worrying and complicated trends. As well as rising unemployment, more people are seeing their hours cut at work. For the past couple of years, charities have been warning that a shift to a less generous way of uprating benefits in line with inflation, combined with rising food and fuel prices, would make life more difficult for people claiming benefits. Then there is the start of a new, harsher benefits regime, as a result of which it seems that more claimants are having their payments sanctioned – cut or stopped entirely – if they miss appointments. At the same time, the state system of a social fund and crisis loans is being wound down, so emergency cash payments from the welfare system for those deemed to be in extreme need are now exceptionally difficult to procure. Around 43% of visitors to Trussell Trust distribution centres nationwide come because of changes to their benefits or a crisis loan being refused. David Cameron recently said he "welcomed" the work done by food banks and, for many in his party, their growing presence is a happy embodiment of the concept of the "big society". In a debate on food poverty earlier this year, Caroline Spelman, secretary of state for environment and food, described them as an "excellent example" of this in action. For others, the growth is a reflection of a new approach to providing assistance to people in real need. Whereas previously this was a service that the state would have provided, now feeding large numbers of people who are not able to feed themselves is being subcontracted out to charities. Those who have scrutinised the progress of the Welfare Reform Act, say this move from state to charity reflects the general direction of travel. See also this recent gallery of photographs by Kayte Brimacombe taken at four London food banks , and our Breadline Britain series on the impact and consequences of recession on families and individuals across the UK. • A recommended post by Jules Birch on Louise Casey and the government's troubled families programme . He picks apart the "dodgy statistics" behind the programme and the shifting definition of a "troubled family", and concludes: Louise Casey and everyone involved in the Troubled Families Programme are doing important work. Seen from the ground up, there are troubled families, high-contact families, families with multiple disadvantages, out there. Despite the sneering of Humphrys ('if society calculates these people are not capable, we as a society have to make a choice don't we?) there is evidence that intensive support from a dedicated worker can produce results. Seen from the top down though, the programme is founded on made-up 'facts' and the systematic distortion of research evidence. The more they are repeated, the worse it gets, and Casey's 16 interviews do little to counteract that. It is trying to make things better at a time when cuts and rising poverty are making things worse regardless of Casey's threat to use a 'very big stick' and even eviction. And it has political bosses who think that if there are troubled families then common sense says that they must also be trouble-making families and who, as Eric Pickles puts it, want 'to be a little less understanding' to families who are 'fluent in social work'. • A new post on the LASA blog by Terry Stokes, which asks whether the government is storing up problems with its move to the Universal Credit . He says the G4S fiasco raises concerns: This is too big an issue for wrong-headed boldness or rash promises, because it affects millions of people who have no other income, who will rely on UC for their basic financial support. As the G4S situation shows us, it's far better to be upfront about struggles or shortfalls than to pretend all is well and praying for the best. I'll be keeping a sharp eye on this massively important issue and have also offered to meet with Lord Freud to offer our thoughts on how to support the people who will be claiming UC. Let's hope we can get this right first time around, because otherwise the armed forces and police may be called on for very different reasons. • An epic trip around Europe being planned by Martyn Sibley, co-founder of the online lifestyle magazine Disability Horizons . Sibley has announced on his blog that from September he's planning his "toughest challenge yet", travelling across Europe with his adapted hand-controlled car, accessible caravan and his personal care assistants. His planned route will take him through France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Poland and reaches Lithuania, where his grandfather came from, before travelling home via Poland, Germany, Holland and Belgium. And the experiences will be shared with his online community through articles, pictures and videos on his blog, Disability Horizons and his Twitter feed. Sibley says he: ... will discuss the personal challenges, the wheelchair access/barriers, people's differing attitudes to disability and video interview other disabled people and charities. Alongside this there will be press coverage and fundraising for beneficiaries in each country. • A lovely post on the Mashable blog using Lego to explain the concept of infographics (thanks to Louise Kidney for the link) Other news • BBC: Polypill 'could save thousands' • Children & Young People Now: Two thirds of councils fail to provide sufficient holiday childcare • CivilSociety.co.uk: Paying trustees would damage charity sector, warn umbrella bodies • Community Care: Half of social workers have seen colleague quit over caseloads • Independent: High-risk sex offenders 'being freed from prison without treatment' • Inside Housing: Rise in working housing benefit claimants • Telegraph: David Cameron - wounded troops will not lose disability benefits • Third Sector: Donors strongly influenced by the amounts others give, says study 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]