New powers, authority and resources have to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament as a consequence of the ‘vow’ made last week by the three major Westminster party leaders. Anything less would be a betrayal of the Scottish people, and extremely damaging to democracy and the reputation of the politicians.

Assuming that the three leaders and their parliamentary parties honour...

After last week’s TUC conference the unions should reflect on how best to strengthen public services. Collaboration with other stakeholders is the key

Last week the Trades Union Congress met in Liverpool and considered the future of public services. It will inevitably have reaffirmed the trade union preference for public services to be owned, funded and managed within an accountable...

We hear much about the importance of communities and neighbourhoods, whether it is their role in creating economic growth, addressing social cohesion, improving the local environment or, increasingly, co-producing or even taking over the running of public services.

The theory sounds great – but in times of reduced public sector budgets, rising social need and demographic-led demand for services, what...

Over the summer holiday period, I have been reflecting on a conversation, which I had a few months ago with a public sector procurement executive.

This procurement professional works for a local authority that, to be fair, has a good reputation for its leadership, management and services.  And, like every other local authority, it has had to cut its expenditure...

One consequence of fixed term parliaments is that the date of the next general election is known well in advance - which in this case happens to be May 2015, or in just over eight months' time. These are going to be critical months for the voluntary a...

John Tizard, an Independent Strategic Advisor and Commentator shares his thoughts on why significant change can transform public services…

Over the last few years, the public sector has faced some of its biggest challenges for decades. Unprecedentedly significant and immediate public expenditure cuts have been accompanied by an ever-rising increase in demand for core public services including health and social...

It seems all too easy and convenient for so many national politicians, senior civil servants and the media to dismiss local government as at best an irrelevance and often as a source of waste and blockage to growth and progress. This is wrong. Success...

With more than half the austerity cuts still to come, public sector leaders need to be bold and imaginative about how they respond. If not, it will be service users who lose out

As the sun shines and summer continues it may be too tempting to try and forget the financial crisis in public services.

Less than half the cuts implicit...

Being a charity trustee in the current political and economic environment does not always feel comfortable. There are many reasons for this. Large or small, local or national - charities are facing common problems of reduced income and, if they are ch...

I despair whenever I hear people confuse or deliberately conflate public sector commissioning and procurement.  Too often the words are used as if they are interchangeable. They are not.

However, all too often the procurement processes and thinking are corrupting commissioning practice.  This is a huge mistake and will lead to less effective use of scarce resources, poor quality and...