Society daily 22.06.12

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Disabled people hit especially hard by cuts, finds report • Change rules on migrant workers, says Ed Miliband • Doctors consider further strike action over pensions • NHS boss was 'incredulous' when he heard Andrew Lansley's health plans • Breadline Britain Day Four: benefits, mental health, poverty • Parents offered guide to teaching body confidence • Polly Toynbee: Housing is hanging off its hinges. Could Labour fix it? All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • High-speed broadband: the next step for the co-operative movement . The Social Enterprise Network takes a look at the progress of community-owned ventures to improve internet access for areas otherwise poorly served. • Charities that aim to change attitudes need some way of gathering evidence of what they are achieving to prove their impact. Loic Menzies, director of LKMco, discusses how this can be done . • Reducing social policy to a set of known interventions ignores the complexity and context of many of the issues involved, writes Dan Corry, the chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital. • The housing minister, Grant Shapps, may not have Hollywood looks but he's got charm, says Jon Land , editor of 24housing magazine – and the sector could do well to resist his spell. On my radar ... • As the NHS Direct service faces near extinction next year, a leaked email from Nick Chapman , the chief executive of the organisation, shows it has so far failed to secure a single contract for replacements run by local providers. "No contracts have yet been signed and there is still a lot of work to be done to agree the final contracts before we start delivering the service," Chapman says. NHS Direct is putting through pilots, and though some of them have gone to various trusts and social enterprises, many are now to be run for profit, including Hillingdon, Croydon, Wandsworth and Suffolk. So what will this mean for customers, when the NHS Direct replacement will be mainly staffed by people with just 90 days training rather than experienced nurses? Dr Laurance Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GP committe, has his reservations: "A potentially dangerous version of NHS 111 is set to burst forth upon an unsuspecting public from April. Patients may end up being sent to the wrong place, waiting longer, blocking A&E and using ambulances needlessly, when a little more consideration might make it all work properly." • Whitehall has announced a Civil Service Reform Plan with an aim of "cultural change" and greater managerial responsibility and accountability. But haven't we all heard this story before – numerous times from previous governments? Will a rehash of old ideas suddenly work if it's labelled with brighter colours? Colin Talbot writes , on the Whitehall Watch site: As for the "new" competence based frameworks for assessing individuals performance, how very 1990s. We've been there, done that, and the t-shirt has disintegrated it's so old. Not that that is necessarily a reason for not trying again, but without any assessment of what worked, and didn't, in previous iterations? • It seems equality in the work place has a long way to go yet, as a new study shows the average man will have earned £1m by the time he's 50 years old – while women earning an average income will have to work until they are 72 years of age to hit that milestone. The calculations are based on cumulative figures from typical earnings, which reach a peak of £40,652 for men and £21,758 for women. • Signing up to the organ donation register may not be at the top of our priority lists – until one of our loved ones are in need of an organ transplant, that is. Research tells us that 96% of us would take an organ if we needed one but only 30% of us are on the register. So, since it's the NHS transplant week – how about texting the word "JOIN" to 84880 or go to the website for more information. Other news • The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and Volunteering England have entered merger talks and could be one organisation by early 2013. • It looks like the hosepipe ban will be lifted in pretty much all areas of the UK after an abysmal summer, so far, but a problem that remains is that water bills at an average of £376 a year are crippling for an estimated 2.4m UK households. Now the government wants to see "social tariffs" based on ability to pay, as part of a a broader drive to reduce utility bills, writes the BBC . 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 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]