cadence comments about rsa

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

5 Nov 2009

Innovation Charter ?

A joint ippr/RSA event 'After the downturn' took place in Newcastle this week at the The Pukka Pie Arena or whatever St James' Park is called this week. Speakers John Tomaney, Deborah Jenkins, Sir George Russell all had interesting things to say, but it was Matthew Taylor of the RSA who shook things up. He descirbed the final report of the Commission on public sector reform 'a decent bit of work', but that it had a 'if only feel to it' ... more

2 Nov 2009

Public service paradox

ippr north has published the final report of the Commission on public sector reform in the North East. It is called Public service paradox ... more

26 Jun 2009

Public service reform - history and the RSA

The RSA's 2020 Public Services Trust has started to publish papers. One of the first is a Brief history of public service reform and it is a good read. It is one of three papers under the banner of 'scoping the challenges'. It outlines what they call a new settlement ... more

1 Apr 2009

Connected Communities - Hoodie, goodie, buddy

Cadence's, JRF funded, Hoodie, goodie, buddy project seems to strike a chord with people working in a number of areas. The RSA's Connected Communities project is an interesting and good example that aims to 'explore how social capital and social networks can be better understood and used to deliver the communities we want and need' ... more

3 Mar 2009

Innovation and recession and the RSA

There are some fears that the recession endangers innovative approaches to public service delivery. Matthew Taylor of the RSA makes the opposing point well this week in his must-read blog ... more

4 Feb 2009

2020 Public Service Trust at the RSA

The RSA now hosts a new think tank called the 2020 Public Services Trust. Cadence Works attended their seminar this week on local partnership working between public bodies, with the recent focus of our work on locality innovation of the Whitehall Innovation Hub in mind. It kicked off with a presentation by the Leader of Nottingham City Council ... more

4 Feb 2009

2020 Public Service Trust at the RSA

The RSA now hosts a new think tank called the 2020 Public Services Trust. Cadence Works attended their seminar this week on local partnership working between public bodies, with the recent focus of our work on locality innovation of the Whitehall Innovation Hub in mind. It kicked off with a presentation by the Leader of Nottingham City Council ... more

11 Sep 2008

RSA Tipton Academy and innovation

The Government's Acadamies initiative has always been controversial, largely because of the nature of some of the sponsors, particularly those with their 'Christian ethos'. What has perhaps been lost in the media coverage has been that their overall aim is to to try and create distincitive, innovative schools in more deprived areas that the more aspirational local families choose as oppose to travelling to higher performing schools in more affluent neighbourhoods. That might explain why one of the most quintessentially Blairite policies has not been axed by Gordon Brown, even if innovation in many cases has been restricted to having fancy buildings. The start of the 2008-09 Academic Year sees a whole new raft opening including the RSA sponsored Academy in Tipton in the West Midlands which sounds like it really is innovative ... more

31 Jul 2008

Innovation everywhere ...

Innovation, innovation everywhere, but what to think? Ex-Head of Policy and Strategy at No.10 and now Chief Exec of the RSA, Matthew Taylor, is a big thinker and says in his recent blog that he has 'spending time recently with some amazing social innovators' ... more