News & Press

At Barnett Hill on 19 and 20 June, participants of the HR Directors’ Retreat were treated to a range of perspectives on innovation. Dilys Robinson has written a full and interesting account of each presentation, which is available to read exclusively here.

This infographic depicts key findings from IES's evaluation for the Skills Funding Agency. The equality, diversity and inclusion grants were given to Further Education (FE) colleges and training organisations to develop the capacity of the sector to meet the public sector Equality Duty. The evaluation assesses the impact and value for money of the grants, and includes good practice case studies.

Now that it's September, coming back to work after summer distractions and in particular visiting the Edinburgh book festival, I started thinking about what have I (re)learned? One thing I've been thinking over is how do you understand the past?

There has been interest in integrating health and social care services for over two decades, but it is only in the past few years that real progress has been made. The Health Act provides the accountability structure for a single Executive Leadership Team, pooled budgets and common goals. Interest has been sharpened firstly by funding of the Integrated Care Pilots in 2009, and more recently through the Better Care Fund announced by the Government in the June 2013.

Dealing with conflict in the workplace is a difficult task, but one that most managers will encounter at some point in their careers. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) devotes a considerable amount of time and resources to advising on how to deal with conflict at work and to stop it from escalating to an employment tribunal claim. Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that can be effective in helping to resolve a tense and difficult situation in the workplace. It involves using a trained, neutral mediator to engage with the conflicting parties and to help them work towards finding a solution that is acceptable to both sides. Mediation does not necessary need to result in a definitive solution, but is more about bringing both sides together to find a way forward.