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Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215555243
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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Book Description
Following the publicity around the Baby Peter tragedy in 2008, Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) experienced a significant and sustained increase in demand for its services, receiving around 34 per cent more care cases in 2009-10 than the previous year. This led to chaos across the family justice system, and exposed Cafcass as an organisation that was not fit for purpose in dealing with the increased number of cases. Although judges in the family court are satisfied with the quality of the advice and reports that Cafcass's family court advisers provide, Cafcass has failed to get to grips with fundamental weaknesses in its culture, management and performance. Ofsted inspections reported an inadequate service. Allocation of cases to courts is slow, data held is inaccurate, sickness absence is unacceptably high and staff morale is low. Cafcass was only able to respond to the increase in demand through the use of temporary measures (duty allocations) which allowed it to do less work or to delay work on cases. Transitional arrangements, pending the outcome of the Family Justice Review, aim to continue reducing delays in allocating cases, while minimising the use of duty allocations. The Committee does not share the Department's confidence that the substantial organisational problems will be overcome by 2011. Strong leadership, renewed energy and focused committed are needed to sort this situation out if Cafcass is to become the world-class organisation it aspires to be.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215555243
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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Book Description
Following the publicity around the Baby Peter tragedy in 2008, Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) experienced a significant and sustained increase in demand for its services, receiving around 34 per cent more care cases in 2009-10 than the previous year. This led to chaos across the family justice system, and exposed Cafcass as an organisation that was not fit for purpose in dealing with the increased number of cases. Although judges in the family court are satisfied with the quality of the advice and reports that Cafcass's family court advisers provide, Cafcass has failed to get to grips with fundamental weaknesses in its culture, management and performance. Ofsted inspections reported an inadequate service. Allocation of cases to courts is slow, data held is inaccurate, sickness absence is unacceptably high and staff morale is low. Cafcass was only able to respond to the increase in demand through the use of temporary measures (duty allocations) which allowed it to do less work or to delay work on cases. Transitional arrangements, pending the outcome of the Family Justice Review, aim to continue reducing delays in allocating cases, while minimising the use of duty allocations. The Committee does not share the Department's confidence that the substantial organisational problems will be overcome by 2011. Strong leadership, renewed energy and focused committed are needed to sort this situation out if Cafcass is to become the world-class organisation it aspires to be.
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965452
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
Cafcass's management could not have predicted the sustained increase in care cases from November 2008. Cafcass had to deal with an extra 200 new care cases each month from November 2008 - around 40 per cent more. Simultaneously, the courts needed advice on hundreds more children involved in family breakdowns. Between November 2008 and July 2009, the number of children involved in care and other public law proceedings without a dedicated family court adviser grew from around 250 to 1,250. Cafcass was not well placed to respond efficiently and effectively because it had only partly resolved known organisational challenges around management information, IT systems and staff engagement by the time demand started to increase. Cafcass increased its capacity and, between August 2009 and June 2010, reduced the proportion of children without a family court adviser, from 10 per cent to 2 per cent in care cases and from 34 per cent to 5 per cent in family breakdown cases. The Department allowed Cafcass to bring forward £4.6 million from the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets and gave Cafcass an extra £4.8 million. The cost increases do not represent a failure of value for money. Cafcass is now implementing a £10 million transformation programme that should allow it to improve how it deals with future fluctuations in demand. In order to be successful, these changes will require greater organisational cohesiveness and improvements in staff morale.
Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101801423
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 72
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Book Description
The reports published as HC 470 (ISBN 9780215555106); HC 440 (9780215555144); HC 471 (9780215555205); HC 439 (9780215555243); HC 538 (9780215555434); HC 424 (9780215555496); HC 553 (9780215555502); HC 503 (9780215555571); HC 573 (9780215555595); HC 610 (9780215555656); HC 594 (9780215555717), session 2010-11
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215560575
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214
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Book Description
Additional written evidence is contained in Volume 3, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/justicecttee
Author: Penny Darbyshire
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1847318304
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 478
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Book Description
The public image of judges has been stuck in a time warp; they are invariably depicted in the media - and derided in public bars up and down the country - as 'privately educated Oxbridge types', usually 'out-of-touch', and more often than not as 'old men'. These and other stereotypes - the judge as a pervert, the judge as a right-wing monster - have dogged the judiciary long since any of them ceased to have any basis in fact. Indeed the limited research that was permitted in the 1960s and 1970s tended to reinforce several of these stereotypes. Moreover, occasional high profile incidents in the courts, elaborated with the help of satirists such as 'Private Eye' and 'Monty Python', have ensured that the 'old white Tory judge' caricature not only survives but has come to be viewed as incontestable. Since the late 1980s the judiciary has changed, largely as a result of the introduction of training and new and more transparent methods of recruitment and appointment. But how much has it changed, and what are the courts like after decades of judicial reform? Given unprecedented access to the whole range of courts - from magistrates' courts to the Supreme Court - Penny Darbyshire spent seven years researching the judges, accompanying them in their daily work, listening to their conversations, observing their handling of cases and the people who come before them, and asking them frank and searching questions about their lives, careers and ambitions. What emerges is without doubt the most revealing and compelling picture of the modern judiciary in England and Wales ever seen. From it we learn that not only do the old stereotypes not hold, but that modern 'baby boomer' judges are more representative of the people they serve and that the reforms are working. But this new book also gives an unvarnished glimpse of the modern courtroom which shows a legal system under stress, lacking resources but facing an ever-increasing caseload. This book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to know about the experience of modern judging, the education, training and professional lives of judges, and the current state of the courts and judiciary in England and Wales.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215561329
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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Book Description
In 2009-10 the eleven regional ambulance services in England handled 7.9 million emergency calls and spent 1.5 billion pounds on urgent and emergency services. They are expected to make 4 percent efficiency savings year on year in a time when public demand for services continues to rise. Performance was measured against three response time targets until 1 April 2011, but the incentive to meet these targets has led to some inefficiency, such as when more than one team is sent to incidents. The Committee welcomes the decision to introduce a wider suite of health quality indicators to create a broader performance regime in which response times remain one indicator. There is wide variation in the cost of responding to an incident across the services, and there is a need for more consistent performance data in order to benchmark and share best practice. Under the NHS reforms there is vagueness around who will be responsible for what: who commissions ambulance services; who is responsible for improving efficiency in ambulance services or who will intervene if a service has financial trouble or seriously under performs? There is need for greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the Department, commissioners and ambulance trusts with appropriate structures for accountability. Other parts of the Health service affect ambulance services and a more integrated emergency care system is needed to ensure that ambulances are utilised in the most efficient manner. Levels of collaboration between ambulance, fire and police services could be strengthened.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215038685
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
This report examines existing approaches to formula funding across government, and the principles that should be carried forward to new arrangements. Government departments distributed £152 billion, one-fifth of all government spending, to local public bodies in 2011-12 based on the three grants considered: Primary Care Trust Allocations; Dedicated Schools Grant; and the Department for Communities and Local Government's Formula Grant. These distribute funding to local public bodies in a range of sectors, including health, education, local government, police and fire and rescue services. The formula funding systems are complex, difficult to understand, and have led to inequitable allocations. For Dedicated Schools Grant, based mainly on historical spending patterns, per pupil funding for schools with similar characteristics can vary by as much as 40%. Under Formula Grant, nearly 20% of authorities received allocations which are more than 10% different from calculated needs. The priorities accorded to different elements of the formulae are judgements which have a direct impact on the distribution of funds. In some cases the basis for the judgement is guided by authoritative, published independent advice. In other cases, the basis for judgement lacks transparency, and external advice lacks status and influence. Only 4% of respondents to DCLG's consultation supported the current version of the model used to calculate Formula Grant. Some of the data used by departments in calculating relative needs is inaccurate and out of date. Current reviews of formula funding provide opportunities to address the weaknesses identified in this report.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215042934
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
Approximately two million people in the United Kingdom have a neurological condition, including Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease or multiple sclerosis. But individual care is often poorly coordinated and the quality of services received depends on where you live. Some areas simply don't have enough expertise, both in hospitals and the community. In 2005, the Department for Health launched a new Framework to provide services for people with a neurological condition. There have been some improvements, such as a reduction in waiting times. But unlike the strategies for Cancer and Stroke, the model used to implement the Framework hasn't worked. For this clinical area, the Department left the implementation to local health commissioners but gave them no leadership at all and set no clear targets. It set no baselines and failed to monitor progress and so could not hold them to account where things went wrong. The present Government needs to understand what went wrong here for the future. Health spending on neurological conditions increased by nearly 40 per cent in three years. Over much the same period, emergency admissions have risen by 32 per cent and readmissions to hospital within 28 days have increased from 11.2 per cent to 14 per cent. The Department is moving towards a decentralised health and social care landscape. In doing so, it must set clear objectives for joint health and social care outcomes and services for people with neurological conditions
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215559258
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 76
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Book Description
This report examines the value for money risks and implications of the Health and Social Care Bill. The Bill proposes a new model for the NHS focusing on patient outcomes. The proposals are intended to transform the NHS in England into a highly devolved, market-based model in which local commissioners and providers of health services are freed from central control, with an increased say for local authorities, patients and the public. Whilst the reforms could complement the imperative of achieving £20 billion efficiency gains by 2014/15, the reorganisation presents an additional challenge for the NHS. The health reforms are still at an early stage and key questions have yet to be addressed. It is vital that the Department creates robust accountability structures so that Parliament and the public can properly follow the taxpayers' pound and hold those responsible to account. The Committee is concerned that the Department has not yet developed a high quality risk management protocol for either the commissioning or providing bodies. The Department acknowledges that some health trusts and some GP practices have some way to go to achieve foundation trust status or become commissioning consortia. The Department must have effective systems in place to deal with failure so that whatever happens, the interests of both patients and taxpayers are protected. This report provides an overview of aspects of the reforms where Parliament requires clarification and draws out a number of risks associated with the transition to the new model that need to be managed.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215559760
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44
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In 2007-08, new pension schemes were introduced for civil servants, NHS staff and teachers, designed to make public service pensions affordable. The changes are likely to reduce costs to taxpayers of the pension schemes by £67 billion over 50 years, with costs stabilising at around 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or 2% of public expenditure. The Committee is concerned that the Treasury did not test the potential impact of changes in some of the key assumptions underpinning the long-term cost projections. In addition, the Treasury has not tested whether reducing the value of pensions would affect the public sector's ability to recruit and retain high quality staff. Three-fifths of the savings to the taxpayer were expected to come from the cost sharing and capping mechanism - a transfer, from employers to employees, of extra costs that arise if pensioners live longer than previously expected. Employees would potentially pay 70% more for their pensions over the next 50 years if life expectancy continues to increase more than expected. Implementation remains on hold while the Government decides how to respond to the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (the Hutton Commission). Public service employees do not have a clear understanding of the value of their pensions because they are not provided with clear and intelligible information to enable them to make rational decisions. Further changes to public service pensions are expected as Hutton's recommendations are implemented, but this should bring a period of stability and certainty for long-term public service pensions policy.
