17th February: Transition Institute’s Weekly Roundup!

Happy Friday all!

Our weekly roundup is back and running again!

First of all, we would like to apologise to our readers for these three weeks of absence. It has been a busy time at the Transition Institute!

We have been into the process of recruiting a new Network and Communications Intern (that is me: hi everyone!) and getting ready for our upcoming spin-out camps! We are also working on our second publication draft, which will focus on ‘social value commissioning and procurement’. Such topic has been highly present on the media this week, as the Public Services (Social Value) Bill keeps -successfully- making its way through Parliament. The bill passed committee stage in the House of Lords last Tuesday. Third reading is scheduled for 28^th February.

So… Here are some of the key stories relating to public sector spin-outs, new models of public services delivery, commissioning and procurement:

Monday 13^th:

• Article by Julian Le Grand in the Guardian Professional’s Public Leaders Network: Public services can be delivered by knights and knaves mutually – there is not one-size-fits-all solution.
• Third Sector News: Challenge over Gloucestershire care services ‘shows social enterprise is misunderstood’

Tuesday 14^th:

• Will Tanner writes for the Reform events blog: New business models for public services
• Civil Society Governance News: Etherington fears emergence of ‘fourth sector’ – NCVO CEO expressed concern that public services may eventually be limited to a small number of large-scale providers, though “there are still grounds for optimism”.

Wednesday 15^th:

• Article by Jenni Inglis in the Guardian Professional’s Public Leaders Network: Getting maximum value from commissioning
• Interesting survey findings reported on the Guardian Professional’s Public Leaders Network: Public sector morale holds up, despite cuts
• How can social enterprise improve public services? Social Enterprise UK has published a guide for professionals working in local government: The Social Enterprise Guide. For people in local government
• Article in the Guardian Professional’s Government Computing  on plans for opening up IT procurement to small businesses: More SMEs for government suppliers: Liam Maxwell’s three-step plan

Thursday 16^th:

• The daily roundup of the Guardian Professional’s Social Enterprise Network highlights an interesting article by Chris Brophy in Local Government Chronicle: The key role of councils in nurturing social enterprise

Friday 17^th:

• The health and social care bill keeps making its way through Parliament, though public discontent remains and receives a great deal of media coverage: Market-based healthcare is the wrong prescription for the NHS
• Mark Johnson writes for the Guardian Professional’s Social Enterprise Network: Why the co-operatives bill proposals fall short – is consolidation enough?

As our weekly roundup has been ‘out of service’ three weeks, here is a selection of some previous February stories that deserved our attention!

• Spin-out stories – The case of Amanda Palmer-Roye and Eco-Actif (London Borough of Sutton). Published on 1^st February at the Guardian Professional’s Social Enterprise Network .
• Jane Dudman reports on the issues that arose at the Guardian Professional’s Public Services Summit 2012 (Public Leaders Network): Managers weigh up public service ethos
• Interesting blog post by Jeremy Nicholls, chief executive of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) Network, on the issue of measuring social value: Reporting impact – Why standardisation may be the key to funding
• Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of ACEVO and TI Board member, reflects upon the implications of the health and social care bill: Health and customers – “Our sector should be playing a massively increased role. That’s not marketisation”
• Article by Ross Griffiths in the Guardian Professional’s Local Government Network: Can mutuals help drive down the demand for public services?
• Blog post by Nathan Brown, Social Enterprise and Co-operative Advisor:  SROI is a great tool but if it is used when an organisation isn’t ready it could spell disaster
• Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform, writes for The Telegraph: David Cameron must not shelve public service reform

PS. As ever, we are always interested to hear about any public sector spin-out stories you may have and we also have opportunities for guest blogs. Drop us a line hello@transitioninstitute.org.uk or tweet us @Transition_Inst if you are interested in contributing!.

And that is all for today.

Have a lovely weekend!

Ana Pozo – the (new) Network and Communications Intern