Society daily 15.03.11

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Dock pay of top civil servants who underperform, says Will Hutton • Lansley's health strategy flounders as more organisations refuse to join • TUC: phoney war against government is over • Drug overdose deaths highlight heroin shortage • Food parcels for eastern Europe and Devon • Children still delight in playground games • 'Oliver Twist' workhouse saved from demolition • Southern Cross shares slump as takeover hopes fade • How have our prescriptions changed over the last 20 years? • Vivienne Nathanson: Alcohol is costing us dearly – we need action now All today's SocietyGuardian stories Other news • More than 170 companies - including the leading supermarket chains - have signed up to the "responsibility deal" to encourage healthier lifestyles , reports the BBC. Pledges on calorie counts on menus and clearer labelling on drinks are expected to be made as part of the the voluntary agreements for England, which cover physical activity, food, alcohol, health at work and behavioural change. • Protesters are to stage a demonstration on this weekend against Westminster council's plans to ban soup runs and rough sleeping , reports Inside Housing. The authority is consulting on plans to ask the Communities and Local Government department to approve a byelaw preventing people from lying down or sleeping in a public place, or distributing bedding, and giving out free food or drink. • Half of working mothers will be forced to give up their jobs or reduce their hours because of government cuts, according to the Telegraph. It reports a study by Netmums, which says the average family will lose more than £400 in childcare benefits as a result of a stricter regime coming into force next month. On my radar ... • The BMA, which is today holding its special representative meeting to debate the government's proposed NHS reforms . There's a live stream of the meeting and a Twitter hashtag #srmlive . Paul Corrigan points out on his blog that this is the first time such a meeting has taken place since 1992 . He writes: "Governments – even coalition ones – have bigger mandates than the BMA and it is Government's responsibility to carry them out. If this Government falters in carrying out its policy it will not be because the BMA has passed a vote of no confidence in the current Secretary of State, or even one against its own leadership. It will be because over the last 6 months the Government has got the wider politics of its NHS reforms wrong again and again." • Quote of the day comes from Alastair Campbell's blog : "Meanwhile, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has blinked first following the Lib Dems' spring conference vote against his reforms. The door is now open to drive through real change. Poor old Clegg. Just as student fees was made 'his' issue, the same is now going to happen with the NHS. Tory policies for which he will pay the political price." • World Social Work Today , which is today. Writing for SocietyGuardian, former ADSS president Wally Harbert asks why it's always social workers who take the blame for tragic child deaths. We'll have more features and comment on the issues facing the profession throughout the day. • This heartbreaking post on the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger blog, in which Sue Marsh explains how proposed time limits on employment support allowance would affect her family: "My family would end up costing the state 5 times more in total than we do now (around 26,000 a year) just because it will force us to give up on the idea of work. We never wanted it to be that way. We wanted to remain a working family. We wanted to pay our way, but the assessments failed us and successive "policies" failed us and now the cuts will fail us. This one policy alone - time limiting ESA for working couples or families -will fail us so spectacularly that it will bankrupt us. We will become entirely dependent on the state for everything." Marsh has launched a campaign against the proposals, which the Department for Work and Penions estimates will affect a million families. • Trouble for care homes - and the health secretary - explained by Richard Murphy on the Tax Research UK blog , following the news that Southern Cross is close to collapse: "Councils are not spending on respite care for the elderly. Most care homes use these to earn fees that actually generate much of their magical profitability. And that profit has gone, just about over night. So care homes are in trouble. They have empty beds. At the same time hospitals can't discharge patients who are bed blocking, with costs rising heavily fro them as a result. This means emergency care for others will be denied soon. This is the new health market for the UK at work. And failing instantly. Not just failing the odd patient though - although it is undoubtedly doing that. It's failing systemically as well. This is Lansley's dream collapsing before it's begun. What a mess." • Public sector pensions , as examined by Leandro Carrera on the LSE blog . And having analysed the figures in Lord Hutton's report, the Flip Chart Fairy Tales blog reckons "the timebomb might not be as timebomby as we thought". • This excellent post on the At-Long-Last-I've-Got-a-Job Blog, in response to the proposed "responsibility deal" on alcohol and public health : "The real problem with the Government's approach is that it is bringing the wrong combatants to the table. The problem of alcohol in our society is nothing to do with the sellers or manufacturers of the stuff. That may seem an odd thing to say, but I believe it's true. The social problem is the excruciating conflict between alcohol as a social good which many people enjoy, and alcohol as a social evil that some people are unable, for whatever reason, to control. We need to make decisions as a society about how we want to trade these issues off. The issue of profit is entirely secondary, and only serves to cloud the matter. I have not heard many people say with outrage that profits made by the Château Lafite-Rothschild are immoral – more that some people are prepared to pay crazy sums for fine wines, but that's their look-out. Profits from alco-pops – oh, well that's different. It's not different, and to say that it is is merely to expose one's snobbery." • This new study from the IPPR thinktank , which warns that NHS reforms will not tackle growing demands for dementia care . There are around 700,000 people in England with dementia, says the IPPR – and that number is set to double in the next 30 years. The study looked at services in London and says the capital is facing • This fascinating post on the Community Care blog, which reveals that Eric Pickles failed to inform the Law Commission, which is reviewing all adult social care law, that he has launched a review of councils' statutory duties . As Comm Care's Vern Pitt says: "It's one thing to run a public consultation without soliciting public opinion (it's not good practice but it's not unusual), it's a step further to not even inform your partner agencies." • This new exhibition at London's Great Western Studios on the migrant experience in London . We've a gallery of some of the highlights from the show . • The Sandwich economic development task force , which has delivered a report to ministers (pdf) on how the area can tackle the resulting unemployment when Pfizer shuts down its research and development hub. In tomorrow's SocietyGuardian supplement • Suicide rates in Northern Ireland have increased by an alarming 64% in the last decade. Mary O'Hara reports on how concernd communities are taking action • Rehabilitation can being with a simple dressing down, writes Mark Johnson • How family life has brought art to NHS waiting rooms • Social enterprises and local volunteers are helping Britain's lidos fight off closure, reports Jonathan Knott • The coalition is poised to fail on its pledge on fairness , predicts David Brindle • GPs need more training to provide high levels of care, says Clare Gerada • Excessive use of forced detention by the NHS means mental health patients have little control of their treatment, writes Mark Gould • Cuts needn't hit the frontline , says Jacky Ross of KPMG • Janet Murray spends a day with two newly qualified child protection workers and visits some of the families in their care • Ray Jones finds social work's silver lining • Personalisation of care can be transformative for both users and social workers, writes David Brindle On the Guardian Professional Networks • Will Hutton's fair pay review should help progress in determining executive pay in public services but perhaps two of three cheers should be deferred until we know what actually happens to pay in the public sector, writes Peter Boreham. • On World Social Work Day , a care professional says we need to think about the reasons we became social workers and how we can create a profession in which our children want to work • Wakefield and District Housing won a gold standard for sustainable homes in 2010 . How did they do it? Owen Daggett shares his top tips • Certainty is needed to allow charities to plan and prepare properly for the reduction in income , says Caron Bradshaw, CEO of the Charity Finance Directors' Group SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Joe Public Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter SocietyGuardian on Facebook Like SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area 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 SocietyGuardian acting editor: Anna Bawden Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected] SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: Clare Horton Email the SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: [email protected] Interested in education policy and news too? 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