Press Releases

21st March 2013

 

Transition Institute joins Guardian’s ‘City Deals’ Discussion Panel

Allison Ogden-Newton, the Institute’s Chair, yesterday joined a panel of experts to contribute to the Guardian’s Live Panel Discussion. The focus of the dicussion concerned how cities make the most of new powers over transport, education and infrastructure.

 

Allison Ogden-Newton, chair of the Transition Institute, welcoming the audience.

27th July 2012

Transition Institute’s third spin-out camp, hosted and sponsored by The University of Northampton


The Transition Institute held yesterday (26th July) the last of the series of three spin-out camps that have taken place across the UK this year, where those managers and practitioners who wish to spin out of the public sector or to bid for new service contracts can learn from market leaders and industry experts and share their experience.

The event was kindly hosted and sponsored by The University of Northampton, an institution which is to become a strategic partner for the Transition Institute as it was announced at the event. Professor Simon Denny, the man charged with enabling Northampton to become the UK’s first social enterprise university, will be joining our Board soon.

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Speaking on behalf of the Institute, its Chair, Allison Ogden-Newton, said: “We are delighted to welcome the creative input of Northampton, which is fast establishing itself as at the forefront of social enterprise development. Its energy and expertise will be a fantastic addition and helps us take the debate on the future of public services up a gear.” Professor Denny told the audience: ”If the level of debate and contribution at today’s event was anything to go by, the university’s decision to become a partner of the Institute is one it is unlikely to ever regret.”


The spin-out camp consisted of an interactive, action-packed day of three practical workshops led by experts in the field, followed by an insightful debate upon our latest piece of research ‘Scaling up your business: expansion models for spin-outs’. The enthusiasm of delegates derived some insightful observations which will feed into the final version of the paper to be released shortly.

Building a viable business:

Steve Saunders, director at PwC, sparked a lively debate about preparing to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. He charged participants to think about why they think the service they provide is different, what they want to be remembered for and to really scrutinize where the market for that is.

Innovation in delivery models:

Paul Jansen, consultant at Stepping Out, described this sector as a market that is in its infancy. He compared spin-outs to the motor industry in the 1930’s where there was excitement for the novelty for a revolutionary form of transport, but where efficiency and speed had not yet been achieved. Paul made the point that we need to recognize the innovation sparked through independent service providers and told his audience about the National Migraine Centre, which is a world leader in headache services that has developed therapies and treatments previously unheard of in the NHS. In that sense the services available at the centre are not spun-out but have achieved unique complementary status so common in social enterprise where innovation can be easier to develop.

Legal issues:

Owen Willcox, director and solicitor at TPP Law, filled delegates in on the legal dos and don’ts of going it alone and illustrated his points with apocryphal tales of social enterprises that have failed such as Secure Healthcare, a spin-out that did not anticipate the potential impact of their contractual obligations and instigated an inappropriate corporate structure that led to closure after only three years of trading. Owen took delegates through the treacherous waters of the legal and commercial implications of spinning out and pointed them to early adopters and the secrets to their success.

 

25th May 2012

Our host, Andrew Burnell, welcoming the audience.

Transition Institute’s second spin-out camp (Hull, North East)


“The journey of a spin-out service is an interesting one and by no means one without obstacles”, so said Antonio Rizzo, Head of Library Services at Lewisham Council, spin-out veteran and speaker at yesterday’s event.

This was the second of a series of three regional spin-out camp events taking place across the UK in the North West, North East and the Midlands (visit our Events page for further details).

The event was held at Health Central facilities in Hull, sponsored by City Health Care Partnership.

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Delegates were warmly welcomed by our host, Andrew Burnell, CEO of City Health Care Partnership (CHCP) and board member of the Transition Institute (TI). Andrew told us about the reality of being a community interest company, the need to be profitable as CHCP are; stating that “what really makes you interesting is not being profitable but what you do with that profit.” Andrew also focussed on the benefits of being ‘employee owned’ as CHCP are: because each staff member owns shares and can invest in the company this enables them to have a very clear sense of the value of their commitment which in turn ensures hard work and makes the company better both at delivering healthcare and being profitable.

The event consisted of an interactive, action-packed day of three practical workshops delivered by experts in the field, followed by an insightful debate on our latest piece of research on the theme of Transitioning out of the public sector: How to overcome your legal dilemmas. TPP Law, a specialist law firm within the field of public sector mutuals and spin outs, will be collaborating with the TI in developing the final version of the publication.

The audience was drawn from local authorities as well as established social entrepreneurs and organisations supporting social entrepreneurship.

In the morning we heard from Kevin McDonnell, Assistant Director at PwC’s Corporate Finance practice; and Antonio Rizzo, Head of Library and Information Services at Lewisham Council.

Kevin focussed on the importance of business viability and sustainability issues as he spoke about his experience in enabling new forms of public sector services to flourish. As he said, “these are huge change programmes, which challenge staff and the parent authority who both have to act differently.” During Kevin’s presentation we got into a really fascinating and heated conversation between delegates about the capital bond that became part of the procurement process of Central Surrey Health’s which was instrumental in its inability to even compete against Virgin Group’s Assura.

Antonio’s presentation on the radical changes to library services in Lewisham was inspiring. He had a wry smile when he took delegates through their journey which as he said, was made more interesting by the Council stopping and reviewing the spin-out process at multiple junctions. Once the plan had finally been adopted the figures were impressive with the unit cost of library services dropping to the lowest level in London and the council set to still save £60 million over the coming years.  So despite the journey being “treacherous” as Antonio described it, it was “fantastic and worthwhile too”, as working in partnership with the authority, staff, local businesses and community they created a better, more innovative service with a strong philosophy.

After lunch we heard from Mark Johnson, Managing Director at TPP Law, who offered delegates a very much appreciated insight on commercial and legal implications when setting up mutuals and public sector spin outs. Finally the group shared their thoughts and raised further themes for enquiry which will feed into the final version of the publication.

 

Speaker Profiles:

Kevin McDonnell

Assistant director in Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC)’s Corporate Finance practice

PwC’s award-winning Corporate Finance practice provides independent financial advice to governments, corporate and institutional investors seeking to buy or sell businesses, raise new finance or improve the efficiency of the funding on their balance sheets. Kevin is a Chartered Accountant who has over 10 years experience advising clients in both the both public and private sectors on a broad range of corporate finance based assignments, including creating and funding businesses. Kevin helps PwC’s government clients develop and execute transaction solutions to address key policy and business issues. He is currently advising several Government entities on alternative delivery models for provision of public services including considering innovative options for transitioning delivery organisations out of the public sector.

 

Antonio Rizzo

Head of Library and Information Services at Lewisham Council

Antonio has a truly eclectic background linking music, publishing, and information services management. He took the Lewisham Library and Information Service through unprecedented transformation that produced a sustainable solution linking Council services and the third sector. Antonio is the Chair of the Association of London Chief Librarians.

 

 

 

 

Mark Johnson

Managing Director at TPP Law

Mark Johnson is the Managing Director and founder of TPP Law Limited, a law firm specialised in developing innovative and cutting-edge partnership contracts and new delivery models for public services across a wide variety of sectors including health, social care and welfare services, local government and education. This has included several mutuals and social enterprises which provide healthcare, local government services, offender management and cultural services. Mark has worked with commissioners, providers, managers and front-line professionals to launch ‘spin out’ providers in local government services, healthcare, welfare services and primary care. A pragmatic and multi-disciplinary problem solver, Mark has a passion for creating new service models. He advises on optimum governance structures, funding, business planning, risk allocation, contracts and procurement, as well as the wide range of regulatory issues which can impact on the launch of new providers.

 

Andrew Burnell welcomed the audience with an inspirational speech on how spinning out can set the path to achieving new standards in patient care and staff satisfaction.

30th March 2012

Transition Institute’s first spin-out camp (Manchester, North West)


The Transition Institute held yesterday (29th March) the first of a series of three regional spin-out camp events taking place across the UK in the North West, North East and the Midlands over the coming months.

The North West event was held at Hempsons Solicitors offices in Manchester – an associate partner of the Transition Institute with a well-established social enterprise and not-for-profit practice and reputation, including support to public sector staff groups considering establishing themselves as social enterprises.

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The event consisted of an interactive, action-packed day of three practical workshops delivered by experts in the field, followed by an insightful debate on our latest piece of research on the theme of Commissioning and procurement with social value.

Opening remarks were given by Andrew Burnell, CEO of City Health Care Partnership CIC – social enterprise into which Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust transferred its provider services on 1st June 2010. He is also member of the Transition Institute Board. Andrew welcomed the audience with an inspirational speech on how spinning out can set the path to achieving new standards in patient care and staff satisfaction based on his own experience. He rightly conveyed his sense of achievement in that 84% of his staff identified with the aims of the new organisation only ten months after its inception and, since it began trading in 2010, customer satisfaction had risen 7% taking them into the high 90s.

We then heard from Justine Andrew, business development director at KPMG, who offered a very much appreciated practical advice on Building a viable business. She presented a nine-step plan to spinning out by establishing a successful business, starting with market analysis and understanding your customer needs, following with setting up your mission and strategy and only after that looking at governance and operational structures.

Dan Gregory, independent advisor at Common Capital, talked about Innovation in delivery models by reporting his work on the analysis of innovation. He rightly pointed out that innovation has to be good and not just for its own sake and provided some successful case studies in this emerging ‘spin-out’ sector such as Inclusion Healthcare. These case studies showed how spinning out dynamics had been used to innovate in ways that improve responsiveness to customer needs and allow services to grow and secure further sources of income.

Then Ian Hempseed, head of Third Sector at Hempsons Solicitors, gave delegates some great advice about the legalities of spinning out, focusing on legal models for spin-outs, governance and TUPE. He had many questions to answer and offered some great practical information.

Finally the delegates broke into groups to debate on the theme of Commissioning and procurement with social value. They were asked to reflect upon the questions for debate outlined in our latest piece of research and gave us some thought-provoking and challenging feedback which we will be including into the research and drafting up over the coming weeks.

The packed audience was drawn from local authorities, the voluntary sector, the cooperative movement and thought leaders in the field of new service provision, as well as established social entrepreneurs and organisations supporting social entrepreneurship.


Speaker Profiles:

Justine Andrew

Business Development Director at KPMG

Justine has been with KPMG for 10 years though her career has prior to joining was mainly in Industry. After graduating from Oxford with a degree in English, she decided to teach in Japan for two years and followed that up with a Masters in Japanese.  She then worked for a large global automotive powertrain component manufacturer (Federal-Mogul Inc) with stints in Germany; South Korea and Rugby – before ending up as the Sales Director with responsibility for the Japanese OEMs – car makers – based in Bradford.  Growing sales to these clients from an almost zero base she used a combination of grit, charm and novelty factor to both persuade the factories to make to the Japanese specification and the clients to buy the finished products, ending up with a revenue base of just under $10million.  Moving to KPMG London in 2001 she continued to work with the European and global automotive client base – selling accountants rather than pistons this time – before changing tack in 2008 to work in the Leeds office and focus on the public sector.  Now, as the Business Development Director with responsibility for Local Government; Healthcare, Higher Education and Social Housing across the North, her job requires less Japanese but perhaps more grit and charm in the current climate.  Justine lives in York and has two small children and a very patient husband.

 

Dan Gregory

Independent Advisor at Common Capital

Dan has a considerable range of experience of funding and financing mutual and social enterprises. He has worked for the Treasury, Futurebuilders England, the Cabinet Office and in delivering the Department of Health’s Social Enterprise Investment Fund at Local Partnerships. He also founded the world’s first pop-up think tank – POPse! Dan has led the development of a number of pioneering developments in policy and practice, including supporting the development of around 50 Right to Request staff-led public sector ‘spin-outs’, developing a number of innovative ‘equity-like’ investment products for social enterprise, helping create the Mutuals Information Service and agreeing the paperwork for around £50m worth of investments in third sector organisations. He has led the development of government policy on third sector access to finance, social investment and the role of the sector in service delivery. Dan now works independently under the banner of Common Capital and has recently been working at a policy level on behalf of Social Enterprise UK, NCVO, ResPublica, NCVYS and Social Finance. He has worked on the practical challenges facing spin-outs with the Baxi Partnership, Stepping Out and Mutual Ventures. He wrote SEUK’s The Right to Run: A practical guide for public sector staff thinking about setting up a mutual or social enterprise, the NCVO Commission on Tax Incentives for Social Investment, HM Treasury’s Guidance to Funders and Purchasers and the Government’s consultation on the Social Investment Wholesale Bank. He helped evaluate the School for Social Entrepreneurs’ Right to Request Programme and is now working on a 2 year academic study, funded by the ESRC with Fergus Lyon, Alex Nicholls and others on the nature and extent of innovation in health and social care spin-outs.

 

Ian Hempseed

Partner, Head of Third Sector at Hempsons Solicitors

Ian is a charity and third sector lawyer who has a wide range of experience in the field of commercial, constitutional and governance law.  He also works closely with organisations and entrepreneurs in developing appropriate legal structures for social enterprises.  Ian was the co-author of “Healthy Business – a guide to social enterprise in health and social care”. His expertise spreads across a range of legal areas including: constitutional and governance, company and charity law, Royal Charter corporations, social enterprises and public sector spin outs, mergers, commercial contracts (including for public sector services), funding, joint ventures and collaborations.

 

Allison Ogden-Newton introducing Nick Hurd MP Minister for Civil Society

22nd November 2011

Transition Institute launches “Social Value Ethos”


Ahead of the report stage of the Public Services (Social Value) Bill in parliament on Friday 25th November 2011, the Transition Institute yesterday (21st November) published its first publication: ‘Social value ethos’.

The report, also marking six months since the soft launch of the Transition Institute concept, outlines the potential of a positive future for public services, despite the economic climate and downward pressure on budgets.

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Dom Potter, Director of the Transition Institute and an author of the paper comments:

“If you want proof that a positive future is possible for our public services in the current economic climate, then you need look no further than the inspirational examples in ‘Social value ethos’ and dozens of organisations like them.”

As budgets are squeezed and bureaucracy remains stubbornly in place for staff delivering front-line services, a wave of public sector entrepreneurs are spinning-out of the public sector with their staff to set up brilliant new mutuals, co-operatives and community interest companies.

Within organisations who have or are in the process of spinning out of the public sector, there is an inescapable sense that you are with a group of people who feel liberated and enthused in what they are doing. It is the public service ethos and then some.

The added autonomy, democratic structures and inclusive ownership of these organisations is creating a new generation of public service organisations in which a social value ethos permeates every aspect of the exceptional services they deliver.”

 

1.      ‘Social value ethos’ publication launched

Nick Hurd MP the Minister for Civil Society spoke warmly about the publication:

“I am delighted to welcome the launch of such an excellent document. If we are to fully unleash the passion and entrepreneurialism of staff in the public sector then initiatives like the Transition Institute will have an important role to play.”

The launch event was held at Marshall Street Leisure Centre in Soho, part of GLL – a public service spin-out who have been delivering leisure services independently for nearly twenty years.

The packed audience of over fifty attendees was drawn from local authority, PCT and central government staff, as well as established social entrepreneurs, social investors and spin-out CEOs.

Both Nick Hurd MP and Sir Stephen Bubb spoke warmly about the Transition Institute and the crucial work ahead to support individuals and teams to explore setting up exceptional public service spin-outs which focus on maximising social value.

 

2.    Annoucement of the new Board of Directors

The Transition Institute are delighted to announce the appointment of its founding board:

  •  Allison Ogden-Newton (Interim Chair of the Transition Institute and CEO, Social Enterprise London)
  • Philip Colligan (Executive Director – The Public Services Lab, NESTA)
  • Andrew Burnell (CEO, City Healthcare)
  • Sophia Looney (Director, Policy, Equalities and Performance at LB Lambeth)
  • Ed Mayo (Secretary General, Co-operatives UK)
  • Mark Sesnan (Managing Director, Greenwich Leisure Limited)
  • Sir Stephen Bubb (CEO, ACEVO)
  • Sue Bruce (CEO, City of Edinburgh Council)
  • Helen Bailey (CEO, Local Partnerships)
  • Ben Lucas (Principal Partner, 2020 Public Services Hub)
  • Lord Michael Bichard

Selected quotes from Board members:

Allison Ogden-Newton (Interim Chair of the Transition Institute and CEO, Social Enterprise London)

“Pioneers in independent public service delivery that deliver the highest possible social value need their own platform: to share best practice, debate the critical issues and help others tackle the obstacles to sustainable, independent public services. The Transition Institute is that space. It has quickly become the place where UK based global leaders on this agenda are gathering to create the path towards public services built from this innovative new social business science.”

Sir Stephen Bubb (CEO, ACEVO):

“Leadership is vital in any organisation. It sets the culture and tone of a winning social enterprise so I’m delighted we have a Transition Institute to help drive that better leadership.”

Mark Sesnan (Managing Director, Greenwich Leisure Limited):

“I would have welcomed the Institute with open arms when GLL was spinning- out into independent delivery in 1993″

Ed Mayo (Secretary General, Co-operatives UK):

“We are now in the throes of the greatest upheaval for a generation in terms of the public service landscape, including what the state does and what the citizen does. The stakes could not be higher and yet the map is being drawn and redrawn as we go. The transition needs an injection of practical experience and cautious quality.”

Sophia Looney (Divisional Director, Policy, Equalities and Performance at London Borough of Lambeth):

“I hope the Institute will enable anyone thinking of implementing change locally to have some of the tools, knowledge and networks to make things happen”

Andrew Burnell (CEO, City Healthcare):

“My hope for the Institute is that it will become the first port of call for anyone wanting to access the practical know-how around creating, delivering or managing new models of service delivery”

 

3.      Launch of refreshed website

Our website has been refreshed by Nimble Jack and is now live at:

http://www.transitioninstitute.org.uk/

 

Editor’s notes:

  1. The Transition Institute is a groundbreaking partnership of organisations co-founded by Social Enterprise London and NESTA.
  2. The Institute has been created to support new models of public services based upon maximising social value and innovation in services. Further information can be found at www.transitioninstitute.org.uk
  3. The Transition Institute can be contacted for further comment via Dom Potter on 020 7033 2604, 07972 878 654 or dom.potter@transitioninstitute.org.uk

 

David Cameron launches the Open Public Services White Paper

11th July 2011

Transition Institute responds to the Open Public Services White Paper

 

Dom Potter, Director of the Transition Institute, comments:

Value in public services

“We here at the Transition Institute have repeatedly been making the point to the Cabinet Office that councils should have the flexibility and freedom to consider overall value rather than only cost in their spending decisions.

This is a part of the White Paper which will probably be overlooked by most people, but which will potentially have the biggest impact on commissioning and the future of public services if we get it right.”

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The principles of the Open Public Services must not get lost in translation

“There are some very important shifts outlined in the White Paper, but overall I would not say it was a radical reinvention of public services. The key themes of choice, decentralisation, diversity of provision, fair access and accountability to users are familiar narratives in public service reform debates.

However, there is real promise in the way that there is a clear emphasis on the need to focus on outcomes and a broader conception of value when referring to commissioning services. If the rest of the White Paper is stripped away, then I think these two principles represent an opportunity to fundamentally shift the way that public services are run, commissioned and assessed in the UK.

The difficult next step, where all of these policy papers traditionally fall down, is in translating these broad, high-level principles into practical information, guidance and support for users, commissioners and public sector entrepreneurs seeking to run services independently.”

 

Editor’s notes:

  1. The Transition Institute is a groundbreaking partnership of organisations co-founded by Social Enterprise London and NESTA.
  2. The Institute has been created to support new models of public services based upon maximising social value and innovation in services. Further information can be found at www.transitioninstitute.org.uk
  3. The Transition Institute can be contacted for further comment via Dom Potter on 07972878654 or dom.potter@transitioninstitute.org.uk