Society daily 08.11.10

scales — Nick Temple highlights five areas where social entrepreneurs need to find balance

Today's top Society Guardian stories

Housing benefit cuts will 'push poor out of south', experts warn

Unison survey of 8,000 NHS staff reveals immediate effect of cuts

Stafford hospital inquiry begins

Legal aid withdrawn from anti-epilepsy drug case

Children need parenting classes to break poverty cycle - Frank Field

Housing benefit reform: what is the long term impact to your area?

On our blog: Transparency in local government finance a step closer

All today's Society Guardian stories

Other news

• Councils in England fear budget pressures will hit care services which help elderly and vulnerable adults live at home, a BBC survey has found.

• Every NHS trust should be ordered to appoint a safety officer to protect patients from "institutionalised neglect and abuse", says the College of Medicine, as reported by the Independent.

• Government plans government to curb the power of medicines adviser Nice to reject the use of expensive drugs risk creating "chaos" for patients and prescribers, warns Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the BMA's GPs' committee, says the FT.

On my radar...

• A succesful court action by campaigner Shlomo Dowen to force Veolia, a private waste contractor, to disclose details of its £850m PFI contract with Nottinghamshire county council. (thanks Frederika Whitehead)

• Blogger Redundant Public Servant does a quick critique of the government's new transparency website

• Blogger Rob Greenland's wordle of today's Department for Communities and Local Governnment business plan. The word "local" is very big. Not so "growth" or "expenditure".

• Yin and Yang, the top five balancing acts for social entrepreneurs: wise words from Nick Temple at School for Social Entrepreneurs.

• The New Economics Foundation Big society debate at the RSA last week. Contributions by myself, Jonty Oliffe-Cooper and Anna Coote (who has published a great new NEF report into cuts and Big society). You can get a flavour of what was said (and thought) via the #rsanef Twitter stream, or listen to the full debate on audio from RSA events. Neighbourhoods blogger Kevin Harris subsequently picked up one of the themes in this characteristically thoughtful post.

• A great post by Islington Labour councillor Richard Watts which looks at the government's consultation paper on whether planning rules should be changed to enable Free schools to flourish in unexpected locations.

"Ministers are believed to be leaning towards the more radical options. So, with no-one able to stop them, a school could be opening up in an abandoned pub near you soon. In fact free school pupils could spend the morning being taught in the 'Crystals kebab shop wing' before transferring to the 'Dog and Duck annex' in the afternoon to continue their studies. Rarely has one document ever exposed... lunacy at the heart of a particular policy so completely."

• Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway, who argues for the positive motivating power of unhappiness, pain and misery (registration required).

• US academic Lawrence M Mead, the man behind the US's tough welfare system, who is said to be the inspiration for the UK goverment's welfare reform plans expected to be published this week. Read Randeep Ramesh's Society Guardian interview with Mead here.

• Acclaimed director Penny Woolcock, whose first documentary in 10 years (on BBC4 at 10pm tonight) records the eight months she spent with homeless people in London. In this video, she talks to the Guardian about what she has learned.

• The latest part of coalition adviser Nat Wei's Maoist-sounding plan for enabling the "Great Transition" to a big society: this time, a five point blueprint for weaning charities and community organisations off their corrupting dependency on state funding. Bursting with optimism, as you'd expect, though point one of the plan is unexpectedly realistic:

"To make this shift well there are several things that will have to happen... The first is simply [for charities] to survive."

• Blogger Paul Corrigan, who claims big society roots for New labour's flagship NHS foundation trusts policy.

• Two blog posts which look at what ex-public servants can do - or rediscover - when they lose their job, from Will Perrin, and Julian Dobson:

"What's important is to reconnect with what you believe in and what really matters to you - or do it for the first time, if you need to."

In case you missed them ... SocietyGuardian weekend highlights

How children, the old and lonely will bear the brunt of council spending cuts

Ken Clarke's prison reforms will spare mentally ill offenders jail

Parents who adopt abused children hampered by woeful lack of support

Read all Sunday's Society stories

Read all Saturday's Society stories

Guardian and Observer Christmas Charity Appeal 2010

Nominations are now closed for our Christmas appeal 2010, which will support charities working with vulnerable teenagers and young adults. Many thanks to everyone who applied.

Our Christmas charity 2010 partners New Philanthropy Capital are now sifting through the 300 applications we received. A shortlist of projects will be submitted to a selection panel comprising Guardian/Observer and NPC staff at the end of October. Ten projects will be chosen.

We will contact both successful and unsuccessful applicants once the panel has reached it decision in early November. The appeal will launch towards the end of November and run until mid-January.

Events

Capital Ambition Delivering services for London in an age of austerity, 15 November, London. Join leading practitioners across London to rethink, redesign and reassess the way services are delivered

Guardian Social Enterprise 2010 16 November, London. An interactive conference for anyone delivering public services or supporting social enterprises. Speakers include: minister for civil society Nick Hurd; Peter Holbrook, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition; Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive, Social Enterprise London; Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive, Turning Point; Rod Schwartz, chief executive, Clearly So; Dai Powell, chief executive, HCT; Alastair Wilson, chief executive, School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Transforming Blue Light Services Innovating ICT for the emergency services, 24 November, London - Free places available. Discover how the innovative use of technology will improve performance and response in difficult financial times. Speakers include Dr Timothy Brain, former chief constable of Gloucestershire; Andy Marles, chief fire officer from South Wales fire and rescue; Jason Killens, London ambulance service's deputy director of operations; Steve Whatson, director of ICT for the Olympics at the Metropolitan police service and Olympic security directorate.

"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, LondonTake a practical look at social care provision, address the changing face of services and explore the reasons why technology is fundamental to the future of care. Register now and save 30%