”Do your part for social care by looking in on an elderly neighbour”
The care service minister has asked citizens to do their bit for social care in 2010 by dropping in on an elderly neighbour or relative.
Phil Hope said the government’’s own new year’’s resolution was to improve care for isolated elderly people, outlining plans to create a National Care Service which everyone will be able to rely on.
"I”m asking people to make a resolution to look in on their older neighbours more often, to help them with shopping or to simply pop in for a chat," he added.
Figures show that over one million people aged 65 and over in Britain feel trapped in their homes, with 180,000 having gone a whole week without speaking to anyone.
Chief executive of Volunteering England Justin Davis Smith urged those interested to look up local befriending schemes.
"Spending a few hours with an elderly person can make a big difference to their quality of life," he concluded.
According to Help the Aged, 3.7 million older people live alone, while 62 per cent of women aged 75 and older are widowed.
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Public expenditure for local government jobs to be more accessible
Public spending records will be more accessible for citizens and those in local government jobs, the communities secretary has announced.
John Denham pledged that currently available statistics and data about public expenditure will be presented online in a simpler, more transparent form from the summer of 2010, noting that information is power.
The data will be more user-friendly, up-to-date, to-the-point and with enhanced regional specificity, the government claimed.
Mr Denham said this will not only improve performance and accountability, but also price efficiency.
"It will open the door to enterprise and innovation by encouraging individuals, business and the third sector to come up with new solutions to old problems," he added.
In this way, the move will bring councils closer to being unified under the Total Place scheme, currently being piloted by 13 local authorities.
This initiative, part of public sector reform, seeks to improve efficiency of public services while avoiding overlap or duplication in spending.
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Unite: Britain’’s economic future lies in voluntary sector
Those in charity and social care jobs are the key to bringing Britain out of the credit crunch.
This is according to the country’’s largest trade union, Unite.
Rachael Maskell, one of the organisation’’s national officers, insisted the voluntary sector should be viewed as "the prophetic voice and advocate" for the nation’’s economy.
"Charities should be at the centre of leading the way forward in 2010, insisting that local and national government put in sufficient resources to back up the strategies," she added.
Unite, which has more than two million members in different sectors, is spending 2010 campaigning for better-quality funding for charities and social care schemes.
Ms Maskell went on to say that the voluntary industry would be vital in shaping the economic future of Britain.
The union is made up of several smaller sector-specific organisations which merged together to form the foundation in its current state in 2007.
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Taskforce to monitor local authority cost cuts
The communities secretary has announced a taskforce initiative to ensure those in local authority jobs are getting value for money while protecting their frontline services.
John Denham’’s pledge came in the wake of planned reforms in the relationship between central and local governments. New Frontline proposals, along with those outlined in the chancellor of the exchequer’’s Pre-Budget Report, are intended to reduce Whitehall’’s red tape and involvement with councils, leaving them with more freedom to prioritise issues affecting their local area.
Mr Denham’’s latest initiative, to be chaired by local government leaders, will ensure that local councils are reducing costs efficiently while still providing residents with the best possible service their taxpayers” pounds can buy.
He urged citizens to be aware and informed about their council’’s reasons for any pay cuts.
"Woe betide the local authority which cuts frontline services when it hasn”t made every possible efficiency savings," he concluded.
The government is demanding that councils make their frontline services a priority as part of their Operational Efficiency programme.
This scheme is intended to deliver 35 billion in savings through reductions in central and local government costs.
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New scheme involves care jobs to help parents of disabled children
A scheme has been launched across England to help parents with disabled children.
Funded by £12.5 million from the government, the Disabled Children’’s Access to Childcare programme will help and support mums and dads.
An integral part of the scheme will be the parent champions initiative, in which local parents who have used childcare themselves will mentor a group of other parents, passing on what they have learned through their own experience of childcare.
Schools secretary Ed Balls said the government wanted every youngster to have the best options available.
"I know from talking to parents of disabled children how important short breaks can be - both for the children and their families - and this funding backs up our commitment," he added.
The programme has been officially launched after ten successful pilots.
Now 142 other local authorities will receive at least 59,000 to run their own.
The pilot schemes were initially established in May 2008, with 35 million behind them.
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