Ed Miliband says every town and city should have ‘its own Margaret Hodge’, and is pledging new local powers and greater accountability for councils. So how’s that going to happen?
‘The Future is Local’ says the Guardian headline this morning above an article by Ed Miliband. This is greatly encouraging.
In this article the Labour leader is endorsing the impressive...
When Oxfam published a tweet on inequalityin Britain on 6 June, it was only saying what thousands of local voluntary and community groups have been thinking for some time.
The Oxfam message was blunt and direct, but it chimed with the reality that is being experienced in communities across the country. It said that ‘Lifting the lid on...
Political parties and public bodies all loudly proclaim their commitment to helping small charities deliver essential services. In practice, the infrastructure that makes this possible is crumbling at the seams
Small charities play vital roles in their local communities, acting as catalysts for both the growth of social capital and the drivers of local community voluntary social action. They commonly...
This CoPaCC Thematic examining “PCCs and innovation” is the third in a series of six core CoPaCC Thematics comparing PCCs and sharing best practice.
CoPaCC invited all 41 OPCCs, plus MOPAC, plus a cross-section of interested parties, to contribute their thoughts on “PCCs and innovation”. We received replies from ten OPCCs: one of the ten apologised for not having staff...
Political parties and public bodies all loudly proclaim their commitment to helping small charities deliver essential services. In practice, the infrastructure that makes this possible is crumbling at the seams
Small charities play vital roles in their local communities, acting as catalysts for both the growth of social capital and the drivers of local community voluntary social action. They commonly...
Following the global banking crisis, and the consequential recession and pressure on public expenditure as well as a series of business failures and scandals, it is perhaps understandable that public confidence in the business sector is not strong.
However, the reality is that there are many businesses in this and other countries that are striving to be successful, both commercially...
I do find it both incredible and alarming how often senior public sector managers, executives (and indeed managers and executives in the business and charity sectors too) and politicians fail to recognise the critical importance of their staff towards the fulfilment of their ambitions and delivering desired outcomes.
This is most particularly the case during significant programmes of change -...
I was somewhat surprised to read recently that the chief executive of the Charity Commission seemed to be arguing that the Commission should seriously consider withholding charitable status from an applicant if there was already a charity with similar aims.
Sam Younger’s argument is that in times of austerity in the sector, it is better not to have duplication. There...
The Government and parts of the wider public sector, including local authorities of all political persuasions, seem determined to press ahead with more and more outsourcing of public services.
They wish to extend the scope of outsourcing into areas such as child protection, clinical health services, elements of policing and much more as well as to further extend it in...
The decision by the Department for Education (DfE) to consult on the potential outsourcing of child protection has understandably provoked a major debate.
Interestingly, this debate is about both the appropriateness of outsourcing such a complex and sensitive service as child protection, and the wider role and impact of public sector outsourcing.
Although local authorities, the NHS, central government and the...