December 2007 Archives

by Simon Stevens

Christmas often underlines the isolation of the socially excluded. But access to the internet and Second Life might just help

by Clare Tickell, chief executive of NCH

Ed Balls’ vision to make Britain the best place in the world to grow up, is one that I’m delighted to see at the forefront of the Children’s Plan. Finally the emotional wellbeing of children and young people has become a priority for policy makers.

by Allan Norman

A new system of legal aid funding came into force in October. On 29th November, the Court of Appeal ruled that the new contracts were unlawful. Technical or earth-shattering? Well, it looked pretty technical when the High Court said there had been a breach of EU procurement rules. Slightly more earth-shattering when the Court of Appeal said that there were fundamental breaches of the requirements of transparency in public sector contracts. Is this going to affect contracts and procurement by or with your local authority? Quite possibly.

by Peter Beresford

Christmas is the time for feeling sorry for people and lobbing coins into buckets. After all, charities have bureaucracies to sustain

by Helen Bonnick

Trying to live an ethical life involves uncomfortable choices and is far more complicated than ethics in the social care world

by David Rogers

Anyone involved in the adult social care sector has known for some time that traditional patterns of service provision are in many ways past their sell-by date. The demographic pressures are already huge, and will continue to grow; expectations have been rising, requiring services to become more responsive to individuals; and the underlying finances are currently not keeping pace with change.

by Martin Green

The signing by five Secretary’s of State and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of the Social Care Concordat, Putting People First, is an indicator of the much higher profile that is being taken by social care inside government.

by Stephen Burke

The Government’s forthcoming national housing strategy for an ageing society must deliver real results for today’s older people as well as future generations.

by Andrew Holman

As before, there is little one can disagree with in principle with Valuing People Now. The difficulty seems to come in the detail and implementation. We know only too well the lack of progress in some areas since the original was published nearly 7 years ago and it is a pleasant change to see this fundamentally acknowledged rather than have anyone who dared point it out pilloried for being in some way anti Valuing People.