cadence comments about public policy

11 Jun 2010

Total neighbouhood and cuts

While the coalition government approach to the Total Place initiative is not completely clear, there are signs the overall principles are supported. Many are not waiting for guidance from the centre and are getting on with projects that build on the TP approach and learning ... more

28 Apr 2010

Politics and policy

Policies have not been the focus of the current election. Today the Insitute for Fiscal Studies have got the focus on public finances and the lack of clarity around the cuts that will be needed. Some would argue that still has things the wrong way round, thinking what to cut, rather than what the vision is and how it can be achieved with the money available ... more

22 Mar 2010

Intrinsic or instrumental - parks, museums ...

CABE have published Urban green nation, which 'assembles the national evidence about the quantity, quality and use of publicly owned urban green space in England and ... examines the significant impact of local green spaces on people's health and well-being'. It all makes sense, but it is worth giving a thought as to whether we should fund parks because they are good for health (an instrumental benefit)? Or just because people like them and a rich country should be able to provide them for that reason alone (intrinsic)? ... more

10 Feb 2010

3rd sector mixed messages

The unique skills and community benefits of the third sector must not be overlooked by councils looking to improve local public services, Communities Secretary John Denham said today. Voluntary organisations and charities are overwhelmed with demand for their services, but funding cuts are making it hard for them to keep up, plan for the future and prove their true worth (Public magazine). In the same Denham press release he adds: "In the quest for leaner more efficient services we still need to find ways for councils to take advantage of the positive social outcomes the third sector provides." ... more

2 Feb 2010

Public policy success - Dorling on HE

Professor Danny Dorling, University of Sheffield geographer and part of the Cadence Network wrote about a public policy success in education last week. Below is the full article. The Higher Education Funding Council report on who is getting into universities reveals much more than is at first glance obvious. It shows that after years of effort children from poorer areas are going in growing numbers to university. Many more university places have been provided and in the last few years. For the first time ever recorded, the majority of those additional places have been taken up by children living in the poorer half of British neighbourhoods. This was achieved not at the expense of upper and middle-class children, who have also seen their chances improve. It occurred because of the way the education system as a whole has expanded and, most importantly as a result of massive increases in funding per child in state secondary schools in recent years ... more

28 Jan 2010

3rd sector and efficiency - baths and babies

Council taxpayers will be intolerant if told front lines services are being cut back when their local authority hasn’t made every effort to be as efficient as possible, Communities Secretary John Denham warned this week. He also said that councils shouldn’t ignore the social outcomes the third sector can provide such as jobs for the workless or better services, in the stampede the hunt down the cheapest deal ... more

21 Dec 2009

Do surveys make any difference? Ask Santa?

Do surveys make any difference? Does making information available to citizens change behaviour? Does sending a letter to Santa work? The government's early Christmas present this year is the announcement of a new Civic Health report ... more

11 Nov 2009

Recuitment - social work v army ...

In the news this week there have been reports of a shortage of social workers and an increase in applications to the army. The social worker problem was linked to the Baby P case in Haringey, the BBC coverage saying 'A growing number of social workers are leaving the profession following the Baby P case'. The army stories talked about the influence of Afghanistan ... more

17 Dec 2008

Focus on customer needs instead of targets

'Many of today's targets fail because they are set by people remote from what customers want' says a Jeremy Cox of Vanguard Consulting in an article in the Guardian's Society section today. He also suggests that there is no correlation between the services that councils provide and their ratings. Cadence Works' research work on innovation in public services would tend to support this view ... more

26 Nov 2008

VAT, onion peel, varnish and innovation

The idea that 'when the facts change, I change my mind' (John Maynard Keynes) may or may not being coming in to play during the current debate about the pros and cons of the change in VAT. Opposition party responses to the 2.5% reduction have been broadly along the line that it won't help - which is not an unreasonable view. Strangely, though, the Conservative Party in particular is absolutely convinced that a 1% increase would be catastrophic - a 'bombshell' indeed. It would be a mistake to try to learn too much from such a typical British-style political spat, but it does perhaps provide a little insight into why introducing innovation into government processes can be so frustrating ... more