Balls orders intensive training for children's services directors

· News: Glowing report for superbug hospitals
· Comment: People haven't lost the giving spirit
· Blog: Charities' growing public service delivery role

Welcome to the daily email alert from SocietyGuardian.co.uk

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Today's top story - Balls orders intensive training for children's services directors

Initiative to address concerns that directors have been too focused on schools at expense of social care

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MORE NEWS

· NHS: Glowing report for superbug hospitals

Spot check finds huge improvement in three Kent hospitals where 120 patients were killed by C. difficile

· Health: Ministers failing to abolish mixed wards

Shadow health secretary publishes figures showing many trusts are unable to fully meet guidelines

· International aid and development: Billions face food shortages, study warns

Higher temperatures in tropics may ruin farming of staple food crops such as rice and maize by 2100

· Health: If pandemic strikes, avoid doctor and get a 'flu buddy'

Guidelines say drugs could be accessed by phone

· Young people: Falling youth crime figures 'exclude thousands of first-time offenders'

Government statistics under fire from the former chairman of the Youth Justice Board

· Youth justice: Johnson replaces disgraced youth mayor

Appointment of deputy leader seen as safe option

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FEATURES, BLOGS AND COMMENT

· Voluntary sector: The recession has not stifled the public's giving spirit

There's less money around, but latest figures show that people are still supporting charities, say Cathy Pharoah and Beth Breeze

· Public services policy: What's in it for the third sector?

Jenny Harrow examines the dilemmas for voluntary organisations as they deliver even more public services

· Prisons and probation: Bard behind bars

Johnny McDevitt investigates Mickey B, a new adaptation of Macbeth made in a maximum security prison

· International aid and development: The outcry is muted, but the food crisis is getting worse

Jayati Ghosh: The financial debacle has drowned out coverage of food shortages. Where are the billion-dollar bailouts for the hungry?

· Regeneration: Burnham's minor works

Lynsey Hanley: Promoting culture in the regions is good but rarely brings the long-term jobs cities like Liverpool need