HOWZAT

The week

Hospital trusts; prisoner releases; council housing cheats; GCSEs; monitoring rapists; voting system; care homes

Should boys and girls be taught together?

After a conference on the topic we ask experts for opinions on the rise of single-sex lessons in schools

Council chief executives offer great value

Town hall bosses run complex organisations and hundreds of services yet are paid less than private sector counterparts

Branson moves step closer to Camelot bid

Entrepreneur is among six parties that made next round of bidding to acquire 80% stake in lottery operator Camelot

Discreet philanthropists set out their goals

Children’s Investment Fund Foundation measures exactly how to combat a problem before throwing money at it

Look after health staff and physicians will heal themselves

It is clearly important for the NHS to be an exemplar for staff health and wellbeing

Is home ownership the way out of poverty?

Opinions are divided over whether buying or renting property is the better housing policy

The health and safety Christmas tree

Poole’s shopping precinct has been decorated with a cone with no trunk or branches to meet the demands of health and safety

Transparency and accountability are crucial for NGOs

If funds were being wasted it would threaten the future of NGOs and seriously damage the views of the public

No-frills style shakes up leadership training

Steve Radcliffe, a straight-speaking Lancashire man unadorned by celebrity, makes for an unusual management guru

Who is worth more than the Prime Minister?

We ask whether Gordon Brown’s salary of £197,689 should represent a ceiling for all public sector earnings

Carpentry helps jobless nail a better future

A programme in the East End of London is countering the danger of social exclusion by offering skills training

Let children turn the page to a better life

The Reading Agency charity believes the key to a bright future lies in informal learning and the enjoyment of books

Disabled youngsters need rights of passage

They enter adult life in need of support, but public services must be aware that these teenagers have their own ambitions

Asos blames postal strike as growth slips

The Royal Mail strike has thwarted sales growth at Asos, the online fashion retailer, in spite of contingency arrangements

Should older people pay for social care?

A consultation on the Green Paper looking at how adult social care should be funded closes today

Management briefing: social housing

Conservative plans would give tenants more flexibility in being able to choose where to live with less bureaucracy

Local councils stuck in mud with carbon footprint

Public sector bodies are still failing to prepare to meet targets set down for cutting their carbon footprints