Join us here on Touchstone blog on Monday 28 November, 12.30pm for an online/offline seminar with Andrew Dilnot, chair of the government’s Commission on Funding of Care and Support. He will be presenting his report on the funding of social care and support in England.

We’ll have the opportunity to discuss the implications for us as workers, service users and tax-payers. Others speakers include Alison Roche, UNISON officer for social care and Prof Peter Beresford, Director of the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University, and we’ll have Barbara Keeley MP in the chair.

The event is taking place at Congress House and will be streamed live from 12.30pm, with the opportunity for online viewers to add comments and questions for Andrew Dilnot and the panel via Twitter or email.

Continue Reading →

Owen Tudor

I spoke at an ETUC fringe event at the Party of European Socialists’ convention in Brussels this morning, about the economics of inequality and well being. My opening remarks focused on how low wages helped cause the current crisis, and about how we need a renewed emphasis on equality of income and wealth to get out of the mess we’re in. Below is an edited version of what I said.

In the discussion which followed, the main concern expressed was the way that wages have not just not kept pace with top people’s pay but nor have they kept pace with GDP: the fruits of what growth there has been have not been shared equally.

Continue Reading →

Allison Roche

It is largely agreed that things are not as they should be in Social Care. Whether we are looking at funding, choice, quality or a coherent frame work of reform based on shared values around dignity and safety, the more important question is how are these going to be agreed, promoted and implemented?

Continue Reading →

Scarlet Harris

25 Nov: UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Today, 25th November, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it seems a fitting moment to ask the government to reaffirm its commitment to eradicating violence against women with a very tangible, and rather overdue, step. We’ve chosen today to start a petition urging the government to sign up to the Council of Europe convention on combating and preventing violence against women and domestic violence (the convention is known as CAHVIO).

Now, the UK has a comparatively good track record on initiatives to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) – leaving aside recent retrograde steps such as cuts to local authority funding of refuges and other VAWG services and the disastrous Legal Aid reforms which will leave women fleeing domestic violence with no access to justice unless they can afford to pay. Compared to many parts of the world where violence against women is tolerated or even sanctioned by the state, the UK has taken many steps over the years to attempt to eradicate violence against women and girls.

Continue Reading →

Sharan Burrow

25 Nov: UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Sexual and gender-based violence in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is a human tragedy which must be denounced and brought to an end.

There is no excuse for the cruelty of those who torture and rape women and girls on a regular basis. There is no excuse either for the government of the DRC which systematically fails to enforce its laws and maintains a situation of impunity in which perpetrators are never prosecuted.

But the conflict in the DRC, and the gender-based violence that characterizes it, is sustained and fuelled by financial gains and profits.

Continue Reading →

Matt Dykes

The politics of positioning is always a tricky game.  And so it is proving for many within the voluntary sector.  As austerity bites and the sector finds itself competing for scarce resources, it is understandable that many charity and voluntary sector leaders find themselves boxing clever with a government that has explicitly courted them with Big Society talk, public service commissioning opportunities and some useful budget tinkering on Gift Aid.

However, it remains to be seen how tenable these positions remain in the face of a deepening crisis across the sector.  It seems that every week brings worsening prospects for jobs, funding and services. 

While this clearly makes a mockery of the government’s Big Society aspirations, it might be argued that voices of opposition in the sector have been muted.  But is this soon to change?

Continue Reading →

Gary Crothers

The House of Lords had a late night on Monday as Peers spent eight hours debating the Government’s bill to cut legal aid. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill had its second reading in the upper chamber on 21^st November. 42 Peers spoke about legal aid and all of these (barring the Minister) were against the proposals.

The bill sets out Government plans to cut legal aid for many areas of law. The proposals include removing legal aid for debt cases, except those at crisis point when your home is at immediate risk. The bill would cut free help for family cases that do not involve domestic violence. Other areas such as benefits, employment and clinical negligence will be removed from the scope of legal aid altogether.

Continue Reading →

David Ashton

The recent announcement by the government of a pilot project to “give employers power over skills training” raises new challenges for the union movement.

In a presentation I will be giving at the TUC unionlearn “Skills Investment” seminar on 1^st December I will draw on my research in this field to show what such a system that gives power to employers might look like here in the UK. I will also highlight some of the key implications for the union movement. 

Continue Reading →

Matt Dykes

Local government has borne the brunt of the government spending cuts this year and the prospect looks even bleaker next year as the front loaded cuts continue to bite, in many cases even deeper.

So the Local Government Chronicle quarterly survey of local authority directors and chief executives is a particularly useful snapshot of how public service providers are coping with government-imposed austerity.

The latest survey (see LGC 10/11/11)  has some telling results, with three key themes particularly apparent.

Continue Reading →

Will Horwitz

For the last two decades (and no doubt before that) politics has been littered with references to the importance of early intervention and of work on prevention by public services and communities, when it comes to dealing with a broad range of society’s problems.

It is little more than common sense to assert that acting earlier to forestall a problem, rather than waiting and then coping with its consequences, is likely to be cheaper in the long term, as well as better for those involved.

Continue Reading →