Society daily: Shapps accuses UN housing rapporteur of bias

We've changed email address. Please add us to your safe sender list. Having trouble viewing this email? Society daily 12.09.13 Shapps accuses UN housing rapporteur of political bias Clare Horton theguardian.com, Thursday 12 September 2013 07.27 EDT Grant Shapps has complained to the UN over the actions of its rapporteur on housing, Raquel Rolnik. Photograph: PATV/PA Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Medical experts propose hospital doctors treat patients at home • How treatment of patients at home works in North Tyneside • Support for mothers and babies needs overhaul, says UK health minister • Kailash Chand: Don't force NHS commissioners into unnecessary competition • Iain Duncan Smith accused of misleading MPs over cost of IT failures • National Trust volunteer numbers hit record high • Early schooling damaging children's wellbeing, say experts • Prisons' risk test for temporary freed lifers is inadequate, say watchdogs • Food bank Britain: 'I didn't ask to be ill' • Suzanne Moore: What happened to class action? All today's SocietyGuardian stories Jobs of the week • Executive director, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders: "You will be a strong leader with experience of directing and managing organisations, with the ability to generate high performance in others." • Deputy director of operations, Institute of Cancer Research • Independent chair, Portsmouth safeguarding children board • Commissioning Officer, children and early years, Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs On the Guardian Professional Networks • The price of libraries is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation, says author Abigail Tarttelin • Treasury minister Sajid Javid explains why the government is changing how charities claim • How social workers in Leicester raised standards and improved staff morale • New academy aims to address skills gap in the NHS • Alexander Stevenson suggests four ways to fix the ruptures between politicians and civil servants • Social incubators aim to provide social entrepreneurs with the tools to expand their business but are they too good to be true? On my radar ... • The bedroom tax. The Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, has made a formal complaint to the UN, accusing the its special rapporteur on housing of political bias and calling for her to withdraw her report on UK housing conditions, in which she called on the government to suspend its bedroom tax. Amelia Gentleman and James Meikle report that in a letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, Shapps demanded an investigation into the actions of the UN's rapporteur on housing Raquel Rolnik, complaining that she had not met the relevant ministers or officials to discuss the policy. Meanwhile, the Scottish government is to devote £20m in emergency funds for families and tenants affected by the bedroom tax. The Guardian's letters page focuses on the bedroom tax, with Bob Baker, a director of charity the Simon Community, branding it "immoral and absurd". And Steve Bell has his own take on the story. • The latest unemployment figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, which show Britain's unemployment rate has fallen to 7.7%. The figures show that 334,000 new jobs were created in the economy between June and a year earlier – the latest period for which figures are available – with the largest increase, of 117,000, coming in health and social work, within the private sector. The Telegraph reports that the number of public sector workers fell by 34,000 between March and June to 5.67m, with the largest drop in the NHS, where the workforce shrank in the three months by 21,000 to 1.55m. And the UnemployedNet blog says the fall in unemployment is likely to be linked to sanctions. Blogger Nick writes: Behind all joblessness lie personal stories of suffering, both material and spiritual, but behind sanctions are stories of real deprivation. Imagine having all of your income withdrawn, having no savings and no access to borrowing, and trying to live on no money simply because you didn't sign up to the Universal Jobmatch website, or an adviser believed you weren't looking for work hard enough, or you missed one meeting with your adviser. Those who are sanctioned are likely to form an underclass forced to turn to crime simply to feed themselves; only the most short-sighted government would believe that this was better than having to justify higher unemployment figures. And he adds: The constant erosion of the value of wages, a major issue under this government, gives workless people another set of problems. • A new campaign from the Child Poverty Action Group, calling for party leaders to "reject misleading stereotypes of benefit claimants and instead focus on the needs of ordinary families on benefits". A poll for the CPAG to coincide with the launch of the People Like Us campaign found that more than two-thirds of people think the coalition government does not understand the concerns of people on low incomes. The YouGov poll also found most people believe the benefits system would not provide the support they would require if they needed help. Alison Garnham, the CPAG chief executive, said: The shocking truth about 'Benefits Britain' is that people receiving benefits are just like us. Perfectly ordinary UK families rely on benefits and tax credits to provide an income to live on or to top up low pay, but our political debate lets them down. Politicians seem very happy to talk about fraud and reinforce dangerously misleading stereotypes about people not wanting to work but seem to go missing when it comes to doing something about the benefits system letting down ordinary people who have to rely on it when they lose their jobs, have a disability or become ill, or are in low paid work. • The MP capability assessment. Charity Rethink Mental Illness hosted mock fit-for-work assessments for MPs yesterday to highlight the impact of welfare reform. Thirty-four MPs took the test, designed by carer Dick Acworth, a committee member for the charity. Earlier this year, Acworth launched a petition demanding the government stop using its fit-for-work test, the work capability assessment, "until it is fixed". He said of his test for MPs: I think it is fair that MPs should go through the same process that so many of us are going through. • This great video from the Positive Money campaign, in which a 10-year-old explains the financial crisis, debt and the banking system. Other news • BBC: 'Help elderly downsize', says Demos • Children & Young People Now: £19m fund to help adopted children access therapy • Inside Housing: NHS trust told to alert landlords after suicide • LocalGov.co.uk: Essex leader pledges to improve health and social care • Public Finance: Let councils get tough on bad landlords, says LGIU • Third Sector: More businesses cite 'innovation' as a reason for charity partnerships, survey finds SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton on Twitter Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk You are receiving this email because you are a Society Daily subscriber. 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