Society daily 02.07.2010

All today's top Society news and comment Poor in UK dying 10 years earlier than rich, despite years of government action Swine flu response was £1.2bn well spent, review finds 158 top quango employees earn more than prime minister NHS advised to offer new arthritis drug Police budget cuts 'raise terror risk' New genetic test can predict your chances of living to 100, claim scientists All today's Society Guardian stories Other news • Despite fears that capital spending would dry up, councils have embarked on £1.5bn of school building plans since May , the Financial Times reports. • The Munro review of child protection has issued a call for evidence . It is looking for "evidence of local innovations and new approaches to child protection as well as improved front-line social work practice." • The former children's commissioner Al Aynsley-Green says he is concerned the new government will "reinvent the disasters of the past" in children's services, reports Children and Young People Now. On my radar ... • Sidekick studio's Adil Abrar on why social innovation is the new rave . Yes, truly ... • Flip Chart Rick's musings on whether innovation will save the day for public services ... There are certainly inefficiencies in the public sector and there are surely more effective ways of doing things. It should be possible to avoid a 25% cut in spending translating to a 25% cut in public services. The worst outcome of these cuts would be a public sector that is 25% smaller but still just as inefficient. Actually, no, the worst outcome would be a public sector that is 25% smaller but even more inefficient, but let's not go there, eh? • Reflections on the cuts from the front line of mental health social work by blogger Fighting Monsters... "There are also job cuts coming. We like to think in terms of non-frontline staff, of agency, bank staff but honestly, all those posts have already gone. We've already not been recruiting to vacant positions. No, I have a feeling there will be job cuts from those already in situ." • This video of former Swedish Prime minster Goran Persson's brilliant speech at Cipfa 2010 conference on the lessons of Sweden's mid-90s public spending cuts programme ... • Blogger Count culture on a flaw in the government's commitment to freeing up local authority data ... So the upshot seems to be this, councils hand over all their valuable financial data to a company which aggregates for its own purposes, and, er, doesn't open up the data. • Stephen Whitehead at New Economics Foundation on why the internet is overated as a driver of social innovation ... that ultimately it's human potential that will deliver social change ... • Paul Corrigan on why the first secretary of state for public health is on a collision course with the rest of his Coalition cabinet colleagues ... • A seminal paper on building a trust-based society by Charlotte Young, chair of the School for Social Entrepreneurs , which has just been updated (with the help of Nick Temple , SSE's director of policy) to take in the arrival of "big society". It explores why so many government-led, centrally-directed social initiatives that start out with the best of intentions quickly flounder, prove unsustainable and achieve little impact, despite huge financial and political investment. Without trust, change won't happen. "Big society" is an opportunity to renew trust, but only if ministers, Whitehall and the public service mega-bureaucracies (and the media of course) realize they might be part of the problem ... • A blog post by Respublica's Samuel Middleton which draws parallels between the media's response to England's world cup football failure and its general attitudes to accountability and blame in public management . "The players simply failed to perform in South Africa ... However, the full blame will continue to be laid squarely at the door of the manager because of the UK's pervasive culture – reflected and magnified by the press – of selecting a single, senior target to personify systemic failures." • Talking of the world cup, Ghanaian-owned social enterprise Divine Chocolate's has taken out adverts in support of the Black Stars • Clearly So's Rod Schwartz counter-intuitive suggestion that social enterprises don't really need the hundreds of millions the government intends to invest in them via the Big Society bank • Blogger and social entrepreneur David Floyd on why he won't be mourning the demise of Business Link Guardian awards Guardian Public Services awards 2010 Guardian charity awards 2010 Society Guardian social enterprise summit We are starting to plan this year's Society Guardian Social Enterprise Summit. Last year's summit was a great success - you can read about it here . Once again we are looking to showcase inspiration, innovation and practical ideas on how social enterprises can deliver public services. Whether you are from the public sector or from a social business, we want you to tell us who you'd like to see and what you would like to see discussed. Email to [email protected] . You can Follow Guardian Social Enterprise on Twitter Society Guardian blogs Joe Public Sarah Boseley's global health blog Society Daily blog Society Daily blog editor: Patrick Butler Email the editor: [email protected] Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Sign up to Society Daily email briefing Society Guardian Links SocietyGuardian.co.uk Follow Society Guardian on Twitter Enter the Guardian Public Services Awards Public - the Guardian's website for senior public sector executives The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs Society Guardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected]