Society daily 14.06.2010

A surgeon makes his way home after working in theatre at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham on June 14 2006. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images — An exclusive Guardian investigation reveals patients are less likely to die in bigger hospitals. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Exclusive Guardian investigation: NHS death rates

Patients less likely to die in bigger hospitals

Death rates decrease when surgical procedures are done in specialist units

Revealed: the inadequacies in NHS statistics

Download the data behind our investigation

Today's top Society Guardian news and Comment

Doctors should warn couples of IVF defect risk

Equalities watchdog to launch inquiry into disability hate crimes

Asylum seekers' survey reveals most find UK 'welcoming'

All today's Society Guardian content

The power of volunteers

"What role might volunteer social workers play in child protection?" The education secretary Michael Gove asked this question of professor Eileen Munro last week when he set out the terms of reference of her review of children's social care. Cue clearing of throats: for some this is definitely a big society step too far. Surely family support is far too complex, risky and sensitive a task for anyone but the professionals?

Perhaps not. Last week a scheme called CSV Volunteers in Child Protection (ViCP) was crowned overall winner in the Charity Awards 2010. This initiative, developed from a US idea, matches volunteers to families with children on the local authority child protection register - meaning the youngsters suffer from neglect or are at risk of serious harm. The volunteers provide practical everyday support, from advice on finances or dealing with poor behaviour, to helping around the home – crucial interventions that social workers just do not have the time to do. You can read more about how it works here.

It's clear that this is not just a "nice" scheme: a body of evidence appears to show that well-run voluntary support projects like this add extraordinary value to statutory services, and have stunning impact in terms of improving the lives of the families they deal with, for relatively little cost. The awards citation offered this testimonial:

"Bromley was the first local authority to purchase the service, four years ago, and ViCP projects are now run in five local authority areas, with 136 volunteers supporting 130 families and 400 kids. To date there has been a 100 per cent success rate – all the children that have had volunteer support have come off the child protection register and not gone back on. The scheme is inundated with volunteers and CSV has just secured a new three-year grant to enable it to roll out the scheme in ten more local authority areas."

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), the charity analyst, tested the scheme three years ago (you'll need to register with NPC to see this report). It found a wide range of other positive impacts: lower stress levels on families, and some evidence of improved well-being and school attendance among their children. It also reduced pressure on social workers, and is used as a stepping stone by aspiring social workers to gain experience. US data suggests the scheme dramatically cuts the risk of child abuse and neglect.

It also appears to offer fantastic value for money. NPC cited the scheme again in another recent report:

"Keeping children off the register also benefits the taxpayer. It costs as much as £40,000 to develop a child protection plan, and that is just the start of it. Looking after a child away from his or her family is very expensive. For one child, foster care costs £489 a week, and a children's home costs almost £2,500 a week. In contrast, CSV estimates that it costs £2,400 to match a family with a volunteer for a year."

NPC reckons there is "considerable scope" for the scheme to be "scaled up": more cost benefit analysis needs to be done, but it is clear the scheme works, it is replicable, and has demonstrable social impact. The problem is that CSV probably doesn't have enough cash to grow it, says NPC, and local authorities don't have any money to spare either.

Solving this problem is precisely Gove's challenge. ViCP's preventative approach brings low-cost, high-return benefits to a struggling, high cost area of public services. How it fares over the next few months will give us a clear idea of how much depth there is to the "big society" rhetoric, and how serious the Coalition really is about innovation and transforming the state, as opposed to merely cutting it.

I read...

• This Charity Commission investigation report in which it criticises a disability charity which knowingly hired a convicted sex offender as its chief executive. But why the blanket anonymity?

• David Boyle of the New Economics Foundation on the extraordinary cost of audit and inspection. Cut it all he says, save yourself £4bn.

• More doubts from the public sector ICT community on the questionable wisdom of putting online all items of public expenditure over £500, this time from the Great E-Mancipator. See also this, and this blog post from Flip Chart Rick.

• Foreign secretary William Hague has bought shares in a community-owned pub in north Yorkshire. The George and Dragon re-opened at the weekend after villagers in Hudswell raised £220,000 (Thanks to Mike Plunkett).

• Craig Dearden-Phillips on why his new venture will be a "private" not "social" enterprise:

"I am turning my back on some aspects of being a social entrepreneur that I do not like. Such as putting my ass and my money on the line but being rewarded with peanuts. Such as not having control over the organisation I founded. Such as not being able to benefit much if it is ever sold for a lot of money. I have concluded that those bits of social entrepreneurship seem to me a bit unfair. 30 grand and six months of my life are going into this. If it doesn't work I am worth less in the market than [if] I just got myself a nice job. This new venture could cost me financially and reputationally. Yes, you'd shit yourself too, particularly if there was a pauper's reward at the end, as social enterprise orthodoxy currently insists."

In case you missed them... the weekend's top Society Guardian stories

Doctors warn antidepressants are covering for counselling shortage

Polly Toynbee: tax rises fairer than spending cuts

Cuts threaten slump in affordable homes

TUC warns of north-south divide in employment opportunities

All Saturday's Society Guardian stories

All Sunday's Society Guardian stories

Other news…

Lord Young has been appointed to investigate the UK's 'health and safety culture', according to the Times

Sixty percent of hospital consultants are collecting bonuses of up to £76,000, reports the Daily Mail

Guardian awards

Guardian Public Services awards 2010

Guardian charity awards 2010

Society Guardian events

National Commissioning conference 10. Beyond efficiencies, doing things differently. 15-16 June, Lowry Hotel, Manchester. Speakers include: Solace chief executive David Clark, former Department of Health lead on social care personalisation John Bolton, new Kings Fund chief executive Chris Ham, Social Care Institute for Excellence chief executive Julie Jones, and Turning Point chief executive Lord Adebowale.

The Public Procurement show. The UK's leading event for public sector procurement. 15-16 June, ExceL, London. Speakers include: Nigel Smith, chief executive at the Office for Government Commerce; Philip Blond, big society guru and director of the Respublica thinktank; Allison Ogden-Newton, CEO of Social Enterprise London; and Larry Elliott, economics editor of the Guardian.

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 charmian.walker-smith@guardian.co.uk. You can Follow Guardian Social Enterprise on Twitter