The City is abuzz with a report on social media written by a 15 year old for Morgan Stanley. But what should local authorities take from it? 1) Teenagers don’t read newspapers. Who’s reading your newsletter? Think of other ways of communicating if you want to get through to young people. 2) Avoid fads. Young…
Our regions conference yesterday went with a fizz. I started the event by proposing ‘five principles for a new debate’: Regional arrangements should be voluntary and locally self defined – not dictated by the EU or by Whitehall Democracy and accountability of regions should be vested in local government, accountable to the people through locally elected…
The Green Paper is out. This is what we are saying: We welcome the publication of the Shaping the Future of Care Together green paper, which has outlined plans to provide a more sustainable and fairer social care system. The LGiU has long been calling for radical reform of the social care system and has…
The Government will publish a Social Care Green Paper today. We have long been calling for radical reform of the social care system and have lobbied the Government heavily in the lead up to the Green Paper. With only 10 months at most before the next election this Green Paper will not be turned into…
The Government published its Ageing Strategy yesterday. It has been due out for a while and we have been talking to DWP Ministers and officials about it, particularly around the recommendations of our Never Too Late for Living report on demographic change and older people services. This is the LGiU response:
On a recommendation, I am just reading the John Smith memorial lecture given by David Miliband this week. I was struck in particular by this honest passage: New Labour promised a “change not a revolution” in its 1997 manifesto. The charge against us today is that people wanted a revolution – or at least disruptive…
“It felt like I was there with you” someone said, commenting on the frequency of my Twitter updates from Harrogate. Micro-blogging is great for fast moving occasions like the 3 day LGA Annual Conference. Blogging is better I think for more reflective posts. My overall impression of the week was of the confidence of local…
Our pamphlet on social media is creating a buzz online.
After four White Papers in five years, it is good to hear some different messages from government. The White Paper today is going in the right direction: letting teachers teach rather than prescribing numeracy and literacy strategies, putting the money into schools rather than the beuracracy of the national strategies, a new emphasis on collaboration…
Gordon Brown delayed the general election that never was in October 2007 so that he could set out his ‘vision’. It’s taken 20 months but we are told that today’s paper ‘Building Britain’s Future’ sets out the vision. It will be available from around 15.30 today, following a statement in parliament. I’ll be looking very closely at…
