Public health
Knowing when to ‘nudge’
Jim McManus outlines how to navigate ‘that nudge thing’ – behavioural economics, insights and science to apply the right solution and avoid wasting time and money
Spending Review poses 'challenge' for fair funding
A minister has said a one-year settlement for local government would pose a ‘challenge’ for implementing the fair funding review in 2020/21.
The sound of silence
The history of attempts to achieve joined-up health and social care reads like a bad songbook for people of a certain age, says Martin Farrow.
West Sussex's sugar reduction success
West Sussex CC has managed to cut the amount of sugar used in school dinners by almost 75% in four years, in collaboration with its main meals provider Chartwells, says Anna Raleigh
Keep making the investment case for prevention
John O'Brien says that whether we end up with a one year Spending Review or a longer one, it's important to make the wider investment case for preventative services programmes such as Troubled Families.
Prevention is better than cure
CIPFA and Public Health England have developed a framework for measuring and evaluating preventative interventions. Rob Whiteman says it takes a holistic view, using cost-benefit analysis to encourage long-term thinking and sustainability.
Integration offers chance to invest in prevention
A new approach to investing in prevention can be achieved through the integration of health and care systems, according to a report.
Investment in children's centres helps deliver real results
Leeds has become the first UK city to lower its childhood obesity rate - and the role played by children's centres vindicates the council's decision to protect funding despite heavy cuts to overall grant funding, says Judith Blake.
London boroughs PrEP for impact
Cllr Ray Puddifoot is proud of the London local government decision to boost HIV prevention by providing a further 4,000 places on the PrEP impact trial – but he says the Government and the NHS must confirm arrangements for future funding.
Checking up on the power of prevention
Jim McManus outlines how to assess if prevention is working – and says it is crucial to define what you want to achieve and to set up the project so you can measure if it’s doing what it is supposed to
Don’t play the hokey-cokey with health
Local government has turned public health around despite funding cuts. Now it not the time to think about returning the service to the NHS, argues Nathan Elvery.
Halting knife crime is a multi-agency endeavour
Rachel Dickinson says much greater investment is needed in children and young people if we are to make a difference to levels of knife crime - and treating serious youth violence as a public health issue makes absolute sense.
If empowered, councils can achieve much more on public health
Rather than seeking to downgrade the role of public health within local authorities we should be seeking to enhance it, says Nathan Elvery.
Wales launches 'resident-focused' council tax reforms
Council tax debtors in Wales will no longer be at risk of imprisonment as part of a new initiative to encourage councils to take a more ‘resident-focused’ approach to debt.
Consultation floats new legal duty in violence crackdown
A new legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence could be introduced.
Prevention in its own right
Jim McManus lays out an analysis and narrative that puts councils at the core of the preventative vision.
The trouble with social policy ‘evidence’
In making the case for more cash to improve public health based on its ‘evidence of what works’, the Local Government Association 'has been simplistic and selective in its statistics', according to Richard Stokoe.
Putting heads together to deliver healthy places
The Local Government Association Challenge 2019 is underway. Lizzie Nugent and Penny Galvin describe how the team grappled with the task before them in the first round at Cherwell DC.
Rebooting the relationship
The transfer of public health responsibilities to councils has been a success, say sector experts interviewed for an independent report commissioned by the County Councils’ Network. But health stakeholders are not so positive.
Hold on to public health
Shifting public health functions to councils has led to ‘clear progress and tangible success,’ says Cllr David Williams - and he warns it would be a retrograde step if NHS England took back some elements of commissioning.