Society daily 16.06.2010

Today's top SocietyGuardian news and comment Unison warns of industrial action if government opts for pension cuts Charities warn against scaling back vetting and barring scheme UK breaking European convention against trafficking The asylum seekers surviving on £10 a week Doorstep and payday loan lenders escape interest rate cap Podcast: what challenges are facing the third sector? Live Q&A careers advice: youth work All today's SocietyGuardian stories Live Blog: Cameron guru Nat Wei's first speech Lord Wei , the government's adviser on 'big society' , will be making his maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on the role of partnerships between government and civil society in shaping social policy. Randeep Ramesh will be following the speech of the ex-McKinsey consultant, Teach First founder and Young Foundation fellow and blogging here from 3.30pm. Other news Policy Exchange, the Tory thinktank, claims that the middle classes are receiving £50bn in benefits a year , reports the Daily Mail. Councils braced for change Don't imagine the cuts can't possibly happen to you, Solace chief executive David Clark told the Guardian National Commissioning Conference yesterday . Don't assume you are too important, or will be protected. Change is coming, and just because local government provides a particular service now, doesn't mean it will do so in the future. "Ask the borough engineer, borough architect, or student grants officer." So how might councils handle the consequences of the decline in public spending? Clark offered three guiding principles: • Review and redefine the relationship between the individual and the state: "Reverting to a world in which we do more for ourselves and each other and look less frequently to the state as the provider of first resort. Classically, cut a service completely, charge for it, or ration it to fewer people." • Devolve more decisions to be taken by local bodies with minimal oversight: "That means working hard to remove or minimise some of the costs currently tied up in national oversight, inspection, target setting etc. It means trusting councils and other local bodies to make the right judgments for their local communities." • Better horizontal joining up across the government and the public services: "We have seen lots of emphasis over recent years on the efficiency of individual organisations, and rightly so. But now we need to get to grips with whole system efficiency, sorting out the duplications and the blockages which are so costly and so frustrating to citizens. Too many meetings and not enough focus on the taxpayer." Clark also had a tough questions for the third sector. "[The National Council for Voluntary Organisations] says 23,000 charities rely on local government for more than 50% of their income. What is plan B for them?" I looked at ... • A detailed report published today by the right of centre thinktank Reform , which gives a strong flavour of what an unfettered freemarket UK cuts programme might look like. It proposes a rapid assault on spending, reducing the current £159bn deficit to £5.9bn in four years (compared with Labour's £80bn deficit target). The emphasis is on making cuts (accounting for 87% of savings) rather than tax rises (accounting for 13% the deficit). Lots of eyecatching ideas, including a 10% pay cut for doctors, and the privatisation of the motorways. • The left of centre riposte, in the form of a TUC report, which argues that a speedy move towards deficit reduction will damage the economy, create unemployment and make the deficit worse. It offers an alternative view of how successful the much-vaunted "model" cuts programmes in Canada and Ireland really were, and calls for a more measured reduction in the deficit, and a bigger emphasis on tax raising. I enjoyed... • This short film of the The Specials - five Brighton-based housemates with learning disabilities whose lives are followed in an online documentary series - accepting their award for Best Reality at the 14th Webby Awards in New York this week. In today's SocietyGuardian supplement Residents are setting up their own 'hyperlocal' websites – should councils be worried? The teenager who has gone from antisocial to outstanding behaviour Mark Johnson: ex-offenders know best about improving prisons Danny Dorling: axing the child poverty measure is wrong Interview: Lawrence M Mead the man behind the US's tough welfare system Brendan Barber: pubic sector cuts will cause further economic crisis How managers might tackle public sector cuts Guardian awards Guardian Public Services Awards 2010 Guardian Charity Awards 2010 SocietyGuardian 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 King's 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 . SocietyGuardian Social Enterprise Summit We are starting to plan this year's SocietyGuardian 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 [email protected] . You can Follow Guardian Social Enterprise on Twitter . 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