Today's top society stories
Tories: Cameron did not know of Labour-Conservative talks on social care
Class – and salaries – inherited from fathers, says study
Equalities watchdog faces sexism allegations
Children unhappier than a decade ago, poll finds
100-year-low as Britons fall out of love with marriage
Top civil servant clashes with Denham over council reform
Other news
• The former head of strategy at the Department of Health, Penny Dash, now a consultant at McKinsey, has told the Financial Times that there were huge savings to be made in the NHS, by stopping providing treatments that bring little benefit to patients and concentrating more complex care provision in fewer hospitals.
• According to the Independent, Labour is considering raising the minimum wage.
• Housing minister John Healey has come under fire for saying repossession could be the best option for families, the Times reports.
Inside story
There's a thoughtful report out today from the RSA proposing an overhaul of prison learning and skills policy as a way of reducing crime and re-offending. Not the most straightforward of ambitions, the report's authors admit:
Some people thought that we were naive: that trying to be positive about prison education was a bit like doing health and safety training on the Titanic.
The Learning Prison report tries to steer a middle course between those who oppose the use of prison for all but the most serious offenders, and the authoritarian "bang 'em up" brigade. The public, it argues, is essentially receptive to rational arguments about alternatives to custody (such as for mentally ill offenders). They understand that rehabilitation programmes have the potential to prevent re-offending. But this rational debate is drowned out, it argues, by a "dysfunctional public conversation ... brokered by a media that combines righteous indignation with lack of interest in the detail."
The report says it is up to politicians to lead the development of a "new common sense" understanding of the link between learning and skills and other in-prison interventions, and reduced crime:
This means being clear with the public that without significant changes to sentencing or to rehabilitation, there will continue to be an exponential demand for prison places. It means emphasising that public safety and value for money depends on knowing and doing what works, not debates about the relative harshness of interventions. It means engaging people in the realities of what needs to be done if prisoners are to secure work and maintain family contact, and the costs of not doing so.
SocietyGuardian events
Family Futures conference 2010: what's next for services supporting children, young people and families? London, Wednesday 24 February. Speakers include: Dawn Primarolo, Claire Tickell, Tim Loughton and Sue Berelowitz.
Managing New Realities 2010: integrated places – health, housing and social care for the community. London, Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 March. Speakers include: Lord Warner, Sir Bob Kerslake, David Halpern and Polly Toynbee.
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