News, blogs & podcasts

Delegates at the Labour Party conference have fingers held up in the political air keen to detect early signs of the winds of change. Their eyes are on the medium term horizon of the 2015 general election as they interpret mixed messages in the polls about their party’s and leader’s popularity.

On 16 November, the people of England and Wales will wake up having elected the first generation of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). Speaking recently to candidates for the role, Policing Minister Damien Green described the elections as “the most significant democratic reform of policing in our lifetime”.

Making Every Contact Count, the latest government strategy in England to prevent homelessness encourages local authorities to pursue a joint approach in which locally designed integrated services will step in when things go wrong (CLG, 2012, p5). Integration has long been the ‘holy grail’ of UK social policy, but is such blind faith warranted?

Professor Jill Peay from the London School of Economics wrote in Mental Health and Crime (2010) that work at the interface of mental health and criminal justice is amongst the most difficult that either set of agencies will ever undertake.

Joining-up intelligence and resources to target better integrated interventions, gain efficiencies and improve outcomes has become a mantra across Whitehall.

A fortnight ago, we published our latest joint paper with Making Every Adult Matter, Progress on multiple needs and exclusions. This briefing revisits the recommendations we set out in our last collaborative work, Turning the Tide: A vision paper for multiple needs and exclusions, and considers the government’s progress to date.

I am delighted to be able to contribute to the expert group for the Rebuilding Shattered Livescampaign which is due to be launched later today by St Mungo’s. The campaign aims to raise awareness, showcase good practice and innovation on the issues faced by homeless women.

In recent weeks, I have been thinking a lot about the impact of austerity, change and uncertainty on people facing complex problems and on the frontline staff who support them.

The London mayoral election is nearly upon us, with the last of the manifestos from the three main party candidates, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick, being published.

I am at the Ministry of Justice/NOMS conference at Warwick University. This morning I volunteered to be one of the delegates to step onto the Soapbox in the lobby area during the refreshment break to have my say for 10 minutes with a microphone in front of the milling delegates.

Yesterday saw the launch of the government’s social justice strategy, Social Justice: transforming lives; described by Iain Duncan Smith as “setting out our vision for those who do not have a foot on the first rung – our vision for the most disadvantaged individuals and families.”

In September we published Turning the Tide, a vision paper setting out how political leaders could transform the way our public services respond to people with multiple needs.