Four more Flash Reports prepared by ESPN independent experts on recent social policy debates in Europe are now available.

• In Belgium, social NGOs, labour unions and the opposition are questioning the new fiscal consolidation measures taken at the federal and regional (Flemish) level as they fear these will widen the gap between low-income households and middle- and high-income households.
• Following widespread criticism, the Lithuanian Minister for Social Affairs and Labour has decided to speed up the process of deinstitutionalising the State’s residential childcare system and announced that it will be completed by 2020, i.e. 10 years earlier than originally planned.
• In Serbia, an initiative to increase the health insurance benefits for parents caring for a child with cancer is threatened to be rejected because of the current fiscal consolidation measures.
• In March this year, the UK Treasury and the political leaders of the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities signed an agreement that will decentralise control of a budget of £6bn (€8.3bn) a year to the English Greater Manchester city-region and will integrate the healthcare and long-term care budgets. There is considerable scepticism about the likely success of the proposed integration in improving efficiency and securing savings, and extensive concerns about governance.

More detailed information on these initiatives in the Flash Reports.