Ideas for handling a hung council
I was first elected to Bedfordshire CC in 1981 and apart from my last two years as a member (1997-99), the council was hung.
Each of the first four elections during my time as a councillor...
I was first elected to Bedfordshire CC in 1981 and apart from my last two years as a member (1997-99), the council was hung.
Each of the first four elections during my time as a councillor...
Lessons from Australian local government
The practical differences between local government in Australia and England are huge. In Australia, many of the powers and responsibilities that are exercised by English local government are undertaken at state government level. And there are, of course, enormous differences in terms of geographical size and population sparsity.
However, there are similarities too. In my contribution to the
If a senior executive or senior sales/business development representative from any organisation, be they in the business or social sector, were to claim that they should have more and more public service contracts awarded to them by an ever-grateful public sector simply because they exist, then I imagine that most rational people might be surprised and think this stance... It’s good that the public sector is now required by law to take into account social benefit when commissioning services. But the strength of the legislation derives from its ethos and ability to change behaviour rather than the legal content Chris White’s Private Members Bill requiring public sector commissioners to take into account social as well as financial value was... John Tizard has published a paper on the role of leadership and the importance of effective collaborative leadership in public services and across all organisations in the public, social, third and business sectors involved with public service policy, planning, commissioning and delivery. This is published in The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fwd.htm?id=aob&ini=aob&doi=10.1108/17479881211323571. 'This... Public procurement plays a vital role across the public sector – without it there would be no public services. Purchasing goods, commodities and services is as fundamental to the public sector as it is to every business. No modern organisation produces all that it consumes; and many have neither the capacity nor the expertise to undertake every professional, technical... With major savings required as a result of the Government’s public expenditure policy, local authorities and others have to find new solutions and new service models. Traditional outsourcing is not always seen as the right solution. Last Friday I was privileged to be a speaker at the Voluntary Action Within Kent (VAWK - www.vawk.org.uk ) bi-annual conference - 'Hanging on in there', being the conference theme. This provided the opportunity to speak with, and more significantly to: listen to colleagues from across the voluntary and community sector; hear about the pressures under which they have...
The arrogance of presumption
Public Service Contracts – Opportunities and Challenges for the VCS
One thing is certain - the immediate future is far from rosy. We know that the national economy is unlikely to grow significantly for some time (perhaps several years) and that unemployment and austerity are going to be a dominant cloud over our (and e...
Real impact of Social Value Act
Leadership is essential for successful public services
Better Public Services Require More Imagination Than Another Call for More Outsourcing
'Better Services for the Public - a roadmap for a revolution' was published last week by Policy Exchange. Supposedly, it sets out the road map for 'a radical shift of control from government, to people and communities'.
Actually, it reads more like a ...
Public procurement must be based on honesty, transparency and proportionality – and be consistent with wider objectives
Are collaboration and sharing replacing traditional outsourcing?
Over the last couple of years, I and some others have been arguing that the traditional model of public sector outsourcing has reached...
The Voluntary and Community Sector Must Be Confident