Ordnance Survey wishes to raise awareness among third sector organisations that they can gain access to mapping data as contractors to government. These third sector organisations might include voluntary and community groups, charities and cooperatives contracting with public sector bodies to deliver government policy on issues such as social cohesion and sustainable communities. As the national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey produces maps and data used by hundreds of local authorities and central government organisations delivering essential frontline services. Government bodies have access to a wide portfolio of Ordnance Survey information through two collective purchasing agreements (the Pan-government Agreement and the Mapping Services Agreement). Products include highly detailed topographic, address and road network data. Any third sector organisation undertaking work for an existing licensee can also access and use the data.

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13 October 2008
© Ordnance Survey

FixMyStreet has a lot of RSS feeds. There’s one for every one-tier council (170), one for every ward of every one-tier council (another 5,044), two for every two-tier (county and district) council (544), and two for every ward of every two-tier council (20,296) – two per two-tier council because you might want either problems reported to one council of a two-tier set-up in particular, or all reports within the council’s boundary. Then there’s an RSS feed every 162m across Great Britain in a big grid, returning all reports within a radius of that point, the radius by default being automatically determined by that point’s population density, but customisable to any distance if preferred. That’s, at a very rough approximation assuming Great Britain is a rectangle around its extremities, which it’s not, 19 million RSS feeds, lots of which will admittedly be very similar. Every single one of those feeds can be subscribed to by email instead if that’s preferable to you, and are all accessible through a simple interface at http://www.fixmystreet.com/alert

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7 October 2008
© My Society

Plans to improve migration statistics have received the backing of the government. Local data, such as national insurance numbers, GP lists and council tax records, will be used to help improve estimates of population and migration. Cllr David Rogers, chairman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: “The news is a victory for the LGA’s long-running campaign to improve migration statistics. However councils still need more funds to meet the pressures of migration.”

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24 September 2008
© LGA

Responding to the publication of the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) recommended list of skilled workers today (Tuesday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘While the Migration Advisory Committee has undoubtedly faced a tough job in developing a recommended list of ’skilled’ workers, some of the choices are disappointing. There are practical issues about particular groups of workers, often where wages don’t reflect their true value or the funding structure of the industry. Particularly where employers and unions are working well together, such as in relation to senior care workers, these decisions are unhelpful. In that sector, many dedicated staff will be ineligible to work in the UK, which will also be upsetting to many of the vulnerable people they care for. The Government should take account of the relationship between wages and skills when deciding whether or not to accept the MAC’s recommendations.’

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10 September 2008
© TUC

Social Actions is proud to announce the launch of a revolutionary widget that recommends to readers of your blog or website related ways to take action. The widget automatically identifies the keywords on any page and lists social change campaigns related to the stuff you’re writing about. These campaigns are gathered from social action platforms like Kiva, DonorsChoose, Change.org, GlobalGiving, Care2, Idealist.org, and fourteen others. Find out what actions would be listed for your blog (or any website). Because the new widget pulls actions from 20 social action platforms, it can recommend actions based on a wide variety of content. Whether you’re writing about your local community, pop culture, or green living - you can expect to surprise your readers with related ways to make a difference.

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7 September 2008
© Social Actions Blog

This working paper is the first from ippr’s Economics of Migration project. The project aims to improve understanding of the economic impacts of migration in the UK, and how policy should respond to that migration in order to maximise its economic benefits, and minimise its costs. This working paper makes clear the variety of ways in which migration may have affected local firms and economies. While some impacts of migration – such as filling local skills gaps – are quite visible, migration also affects local economies in less noticeable ways, such as by boosting local markets. The paper brings these out, and underlines the importance of looking at migration’s longer-term impacts in local areas, as well as its short-term effects. The document can be downloaded, free of charge, from the website.

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4 September 2008
© IPPR

A report from the Policy Exchange think-tank says that attempts to regenerate the North have failed and calls for people to move to the more prosperous South East.

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15 August 2008
© Policy Exchange

Business Link advice to help business understand financing options has been made more relevant and accessible to social enterprises. The No-Nonsense Guides are easy to use guides for small businesses and people who are considering setting businesses up. In the Social Enterprise Action Plan, government committed to make advice to help business understand the financing options available to them more relevant and accessible to social enterprises. This included making the next edition of the No Nonsense Guide to business finance more inclusive of social enterprise. The Business Link No-Nonsense Guides are easy to use guides for small businesses and people who are considering setting businesses up. They provide essential information about the legal, official and financial aspects of setting up and running businesses and are free and available on request or online. The two guides recently revised are the No-Nonsense Guide to Small Business Funding www.businesslink.gov.uk/Finance_files/SBFcomplete2008.pdf ] and the No-Nonsense Guide to Finance for High Growth Companies [PDF, www.businesslink.gov.uk/Finance_files/HGFcomplete2008.pdf ]. 80, 000 of these revised booklets will go out to Business Links across the country, used by business support advisors and their customers. The Business Link website is continuously updated, including the content which relates to social enterprise. You can access these and other publications on the Businesslink website: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/

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13 August 2008
© Cabinet Office

Measures proposed by the Policy Exchange in a report published today (Wednesday) would fail communities and lead to extensive loss of countryside throughout England, say campaigners, CPRE. Kate Gordon, CPRE’s senior planner, said “It is difficult to find anything sensible in this report. Mass migration from north to south is the last thing struggling areas need. It would widen, rather than narrow, the gap between north and south. The message of this report seems to be that it really is grim up north and that it will continue to be so.’ The report advocates ‘significant liberalisation of land use in London and the South East’ and major expansion around London, Oxford and Cambridge. This would lead to major loss of countryside, overdevelopment, congestion and create swathes of car dependent urban sprawl. Development on this scale is likely to breach environmental limits since the South East is Europe’s most congested region which already faces acute water and sewerage supply constraints.

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13 August 2008
© CPRE

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published the 2007 Scottish Household Survey Annual Report. This contains national results and results for subgroups of the population on a number of key topics including household composition; housing; neighbourhoods and communities; economic activity; financial inclusion; education; transport; internet and broadband; health and caring; local services; volunteering; culture and sport. Some of the main results from the survey, set out in more detail in the main report: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/08/07100738/0

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7 August 2008
© Scottish Government