cadence comments about innovation

11 May 2011

Prison, drugs and impact

Ken Clarke got in a pickle with the figures about the relative benefits of community sentences and prison the other day. He still seemed to be making good points about the need for rehabilitation in prison and we hope the report in the Society Guardian caught his eye today. It talks about RAPT (Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) and their 'intensive, abstinence-based approach to tackling prisoners' addiction' ... more

6 Dec 2010

Recovery begins with hope published

Cadence Director Sophy Hallam is a co-author of a report that was published last week called Recovery from hope. The other author was ex-Director of the ex-Whitehall Innovation Hub, Su Maddock. Su had an article in Public magazine last week to coincide with a launch event that was not cancelled due to snow ... more

29 Nov 2010

Government to seek experts' views on public service reform

This is the title of a press release from HM Treasury. The government is asking for ideas to be sent in before 5th January 2011. They say they are particularly interested in ' shifting power away from central government to the local level - to citizens, communities, and independent providers, so that they can play a greater role in shaping services' ... more

16 Nov 2010

Recovery begins with hope

No, this is not a story about coming out of recession. It is about a project that Cadence Works Director Sophy Hallam has been working on for the last year. Its about the Recovery process in relation to people experiencing mental distress. Sophy has written 500 words to mark the final report which will be published later this month ... more

16 Nov 2010

Recovery begins with hope

No, this is not a story about coming out of recession. It is about a project that Cadence Works Director Sophy Hallam has been working on for the last year. Its about the Recovery process in relation to people experiencing mental distress. Sophy has written 500 words to mark the final report which will be published later this month ... more

2 Jul 2010

Not all cuts are the same

There is no disagreement that there needs to be cuts to public spending, but that is where the agreement stops. What to cut, when to cut it and why to cut are all areas of conflict across and within political parties, the media and institutions like think tanks. We have discussed here in the past the dangers of cutting without understanding which bits of a system help and which hinder. The new government, understandably, talks about cutting out the waste that the last government created. Nobody can argue with cutting waste, but defining what is waste is not easy ... more

17 Mar 2010

Total place, consultation and 3rd sector projects

Cadence have recently started 3 new pieces of work which refllect how our approach works across a number of different areas. One bit is looking at the implications of the Total Place initiative. We have been following TP since our work on innovation ... more

4 Feb 2010

More to easyCouncil than name suggests?

The idea of local authorities adopting a budget airline, no frills approach has been around for a year or so now and originates from Conservative controlled Barnet. It's been labelled easyCouncil and the image that conjures up is not exactly positive, particularly for anyone interested in making the business case for local government (Work Cadence are involved in for LGYH). A profile of the ex-Leader of Barnet in the Society section of the Guardian this week made good reading, because the shorthand has perhaps masked some of the more interestng features of the approach. While the 'relentless drive for efficiency' is what one might expect to see, the focus on families with multiple needs catches the eye. The article goes on to highlight some problems Freer faced as Leader that demonstrate that nothing is ever that easy in local government ... more

21 Jan 2010

Place-based innovation report launch

The Whitehall Innovation Hub is launching a report called ‘Place- Based Innovation' in February 2010. Cadence have helped with this work over the last couple of years. Irene Lucas, Director General for Local Government and Regeneration and the report's authors will outline the main findings from the publication detailing why place based innovation is so significant at this present time. Professor Sue Richards, Director of the Sunningdale Institute, will host the launch ... more

6 Jan 2010

Let it snow?

How does a decent snowfall change behaviour? It does seem to liberate adults to play with their kids. Sledging and snowballing are things the whole family can enjoy. People are walking who never normally do, are they enjoying it? For once children are allowed to play on the road. The Prime Minister has called for neighbours to look out for each other ... do they really need asking ... more