The value of nudging
Laurie wrote yesterday about how the new health white paper draws extensively on “nudge” theory: the idea, derived from behavioural economics, that people can be influenced to make more positive decisions by the way in which the “choice architecture” is presented to them (e.g. by having to opt out rather than in to a pension…
Health White Paper: will nudging be enough?
The health White Paper wants to replace the nanny state with targeted interventions based on “nudge” theory. Some of the wilder media reaction to the release has said that amounts to little more than bribing the fat, the feckless, and the lazy to get fit. Janet Sillett, the LGiU’s health expert, has argued that it’s…
Following today’s two big social media events
There’s a lot of local government, Big Society and social media activity going on today. Here at LGiU we are hosting the first of our series of sessions of the Big Society Learning Network. Speakers include: Paul Twivy, CEO The Big Society Network Nick Burkitt, Deputy Director, Big Society programme team, Communities and Local Government…
What we’re reading 30/11/10
Councils in charge of healthy lifestyle drive. The Government’s White Paper has, as expected, put councils in charge of public health. Local public health directors will be moved out of the NHS and into local government. The LGiU has found broad support for the move in our recent DoH-commissioned paper. But the report has also…
*update* Localism and Decentralisation Bill
The slightly delayed Localism and Decentralisation Bill will be published “very soon” I am told. Bringing together what we know at this point, these are the aims of the Bill as they are expressed by coalition politicians: • Give councils a general power of competence. • Give residents the power to instigate local referendums on any local…
What we’re reading 29/11/10
Caution: is your community legal? The LGiU has been challenging people to provide a legal definition of what a community is. Civil servants are currently preparing their own definition for the Localism Bill. Most have been contributed via Twitter. But here’s a thoughtful response on Kevin Harris’s blog from Gabriel Chanan. Gabriel argues that: A…
Tale of Two Cities: Manchester and Birmingham, cuts and redundancies
After the storm over the LGA’s statement yesterday that 140,000 jobs will be lost in local government, I noticed today a contrast between two of the council’s that LGiU works closely with: Manchester and Birmingham. Stephen Hughes, the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, has issued a letter to all staff in which he writes about the…
What we’re reading 26/11/10
Gove criticised for councils’ ‘critical new role’ in education. The LGiU’s John Fowler told Public Finance that council’s “new” strategic role “did not involve anything councils had not already been doing for years”. He went on to say that “they won’t have the money that they have been getting for things like school improvement”. The…
Schools White Paper – The Importance of Teaching
Contains a summary of the provisions of the Schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching.
Is social media the best way to communicate during the snow?
A map of where #uksnow is currently trending in the UK I recently blogged about the success of the Coventry Facebook page. Its success was largely down to one big, relevant-to-all issue – last winter’s snow storms. The snow-induced chaos meant that local media in Coventry was failing to get up to minute information out.…
