Society daily 02.12.10

Chairman of A4e Emma Harrison. Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters

Today's top Society Guardian stories

Cost of youth crime rises to £1.2bn a year

Birmingham council to cut third of workforce

Acute patients more likely to die at weekends

School plans centre to house its homeless pupils

Helen Mirren: "It's time we all understood Parkinson's disease"

Report calls for radical redesign of cities to cope with population growth

Deborah Orr: Protesting against the cuts is pointless

Zoe Williams: Hutton's fair pay review won't make any CEO's pips squeak

All today's Society Guardian stories

Other news

• Complaints about the NHS have passed the 100,000 a year mark for the first time, according to the Telegraph.

• Eric Pickles has confirmed plans to increase the powers of the London mayor will be included in the forthcoming localism bill, reports Inside Housing.

• The BMA is set to join forces with the RCGP and other medical colleges to lobby ministers over their plans to make GPs rather than Nice responsible for ruling on the affordability of treatments, says Pulse.

• Councils in the north-east of England have told ministers the cuts they have been told to make are "undeliverable" unless the government wants to devastate the region, reports the Newcastle Journal.

On my radar ...

• This blogpost from Local Government Chronicle chief reporter Allister Hayman, on the "farce" of communities and local government questions, which tries to get to the bottom of politicians' claims and counterclaims about town hall finance.

• Dumped by text, a true tale about how local authorities are handling job cuts, from WeLoveLocalGovernment:

"My authority had planned to announce the details of our restructure at a series of all-staff meetings. However, there was too much work to do so the announcement was delayed for a few days. It was then delayed again and again and as is natural the rumours circulated over when we would find out.
When we did find out, it happened in a slightly unconventional way:
We were told of our possible redundancy by e-mail.
And not just any e-mail; an e-mail with a link to a shared file with details of everyone's jobs in it. You then had to sort through the documents to find your job, whilst shouting across the office to your colleagues as you found their post and discovered that they were in the same ring-fence (i.e. competing for the same job) as you or hadn't been protected and were likely to be let go.
If ever there was a situation that demanded gallows humour this was it."

• Emma Harrison, the millionaire boss of A4E, the welfare to work provider. She is at the centre of a storm after her PR company issued a press release which quoted her as saying spending cuts were "fantastic". She's disowned the quotes, and says she didn't approve the press release. Find out more on our cuts blog.

• This new report from the King's Fund, which looks at whether mental health services could be delivered in a more cost-effective way.

• Pay. Following yesterday's Hutton report on public sector salaries, the Left Foot Forward blog has this post from the IPPR's Kayte Lawton, who argues that unfair pay is more of an issue in the private sector.

• This new report from the Fatherhood Institute, which examines how family friendly the UK is, compared with 20 other countries.

• England's World Cup bid. A win in Zurich today could be good news for regional cities, reckons Ben Cook on the Regeneration and Renewal blog.

From the Guardian Professional Networks

• On the new Guardian Housing Network, Adam Sampson asks whether the housing sector forgotten how to manage when times get tough.

• The Social Enterprise Network is hosting a live Q&A on starting up an employee-owned social enterprise.

• Meanwhile, on the Voluntary Sector Network, Peter Lewis, chief executive of London Voluntary Service Council,

argues that charity bosses must do more about inequality.

Guardian and Observer Christmas Charity Appeal 2010

Charities working with disadvantaged young people in the UK will be the beneficiaries of this year's Guardian and Observer charity appeal.

Read profiles of our 10 chosen charities, see our pick of their photographs and make a donation in the Christmas Charity Appeal area of our site.

Events

"Big Society" and its role in local government 7 December, London. This is an essential seminar for managers and leaders looking for a practical definition of big society and how it will work within local government. As well as a keynote speech from the government's adviser on big society, Lord Wei, delegates will also hear first hand accounts of how other local government managers are implementing big society in their councils and the best practice they have developed.

Transforming Social Care through IT Finding your way in a changing service environment. 8 December, London.

This conference brings together best practice examples, policy leaders and industry experts to discuss the challenges facing social care providers and IT support teams. Our line-up of expert speakers includes Terry Dafter, service director adult social care, Stockport metropolitan borough council; Jennifer Bernard, consulting director, SCIE; Nick Johnson, chief executive, Social Care Association; and Sian Walker, service director, Adult Care Operations, Wiltshire council.

HR Summit, 18 January, London

Creating the workforce you need to meet the challenges ahead

2 for 1 delegate place offer if you book before the 17 December

Public Services Summit New models, new relationships, a new era. 10 & 11 February 2011, St Albans.

Join leading thinkers, practitioners and policy makers for discussion and debate about the future of our public services

15% early bird available.