Society daily 24.05.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • A third of parents of disabled children took out loans to buy basics last year • Cable dismisses Beecroft proposals for outsourced public sector workers • Around 2,400 senior civil servants being paid 'off-payroll' • GPs call for work capability assessment to be scrapped • Newborn twins' hospital death avoidable, says mother • UK to resist giving prisoners the vote despite European court ruling • Rabies case confirmed in UK • Babies born by caesarean section more likely to become obese, say researchers • Doortje Braeken: We should teach young people about more than the mechanics of sex • John Sutherland: Iain Duncan Smith's plan for 'suspected' alcoholics won't work All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • Metropolitan police goes live with mobile fingerprint scanners • How can public services make the most of their properties ? • A day in the life of a foster carer • Doctors have the upper hand in the pension dispute , says Edward Davie • Marcelle Speller, chief executive of Localgiving.com, explains how online marketing and donation tools can help grassroots organisations survive the current economic difficulties • David Hall, architect of the reform of council housing finance, identifies the old issues arising from the new funding system On my radar ... • SocietyGuardian writer Amelia Gentleman , who has won the Orwell prize for journalism , for her "delicate and respectful" reporting on issues including carers, welfare and youth justice. You can find the archive or her reports here . Commiserations to Kaliya Franklin, who writes at Benefit Scrounging Scum , who was nominated in the blogging category. That prize went to Rangers Tax Case blog for its efforts to investigate the financial scandal surrounding the football club. • An excellent piece on social mobility by Suzanne Moore, who argues that the dream of moving on up manifests only in popular culture not in actuality : Doublethink – "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting both of them" – is vital for those nominally "in charge" right now. Thus we have Nick Clegg and Michael Gove and their cohort gnawing at the edge of this problem with genuine concern while enacting policies that take us even further away from the grail of social mobility. Clegg rightly raises the issue of snobbery but, for the Tories, the very mention of class is awkward. Thus Eric Pickles is wheeled out as the guarantor of authentic Tory diversity. The reality, of course, is that class is not loosening but tightening its grip via the education system that is systematically choking off the exit routes for anyone not born to rule. I really don't need another public schoolboy brandishing his mea culpa. These people can move over and make way for some bright sparks if they mean it. After a lifetime of being patronised, made to feel that I should have a bath or bow down to their je ne sais quoi, middle-class "guilt" is part of this self-indulgent pretence. Many of my friends, like me, were socially mobile, and we did not do it through bleedin' grammar schools, with which the right are obsessed. We did it through further education, which led on to degrees. As we speak, further education is being silently decimated in the name of "vocational training". • Some number crunching on the Liberal Conspiracy blog, in which writer Unity looks at Andrew Lansley's plan to concentrate NHS funding in areas with the largest elderly populations . She compares Office for National Statistics population estimates for local authorities in England for people over retirement age and health deprivation indices for each local authority and concludes: Age-based funding would give Kensington and Chelsea a boost in funding of around 16% while Richmond and Twickenham could expect an increase of just over 30%. Meanwhile, Tower Hamlets would see its funding cut by 19-20%%, as would Newham and Hackney, while the worst hit areas in England would be Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent, all of which could expect to see anything from a fifth to a quarter of their current funding heading south – literally. By using age to determine allocation of health funding, Andrew Lansley is not-so-subtly shifting money from poorer, Labour areas to richer Conservative areas, even when there's no evidence that people in latter areas have higher health needs. For the Independent, Jeremy Laurance urges another look at the details : The most deprived parts of England may have the highest rates of death relative to their populations. But that doesn't necessarily mean they have the greatest need for healthcare. The highest rates of chronic illness are actually to be found in areas with older, more affluent populations – because it is the elderly who get sick. • A curious tale from the Sutton Guardian, which reports that a GP has apologised to care services minister Paul Burstow over his daughter's comments about the MP on Twitter. Jessica Freeman, the daughter of Dr Howard Freeman, accused Burstow of "slating" her father, who is leading a review of health services in south-west London. A spokesperson for the review told the Sutton Guardian: The teenage daughter of one of the GPs leading BSBV got carried away on Twitter supporting her father, without him being aware. He has discussed this with her and she is very sorry for any upset or embarrassment she may have inadvertently caused and apologises to Paul Burstow. She has assured her father there will be no recurrence. (thanks to Adrian Short for the link, who points out that the Twitter account has now been deleted. "A particularly insidious form of digital and social exclusion courtesy of the local #NHS," he says.) • A heartwarming story about a nine-year-old Scottish girl who has been campaigning for better school dinners . Martha Payne, who's earned the support of Jamie Oliver, started her Never Seconds blog to show photos and vital statistics about her lunch each day. The blog has been seen by more than a million people worldwide, and children from countries including Japan and Taiwan have shared pictures of their dinners with Martha. The Seattle-based Grist site reports that as a result of the blog, Martha's dad had a meeting with the local council , which has agreed to let pupils have unlimited salad, fruit, and bread. (thanks to Mary Hamilton for the link) Other news • BBC: Re-offending rates reach record level • Children & Young People Now: Quarter of councils plan cuts to deaf children's support services • Community Care: Social workers reveal reality of adoption scorecards • Independent: Government U-turn to boost jobs for disabled youngsters • Inside Housing: Shapps: housing supply will not meet demand • LocalGov.co.uk: Neill calls for pay transparency in local government • Telegraph: Public money 'systematically misused' by A4e • Third Sector: Charity Commission scheme for school merger created 'unnecessary risks', says charity tribunal 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]