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Archive for October, 2011

Sure Start: how government discovered early childhood

Wed 26th Oct 2011No Comments »

Author of a new book about the development of Sure Start, Naomi Eisenstadt FRSA argues that its story is an ideal case study on how to deliver services for young children and on the policymaking process.

Early in the Blair government, two features emerged as key to how the policy process was changing. The Modernising Government Agenda described some fundamental characteristics of the new policy process: policies would be user, not provider led, based on clear evidence, designed around outcomes not inputs, and involving experts from outside of government.

From the Treasury came the Comprehensive Spending Review process; instead of allocating budgets annually to each department, the Treasury would manage a process every two years and allocate funding on a three-year basis, to enable longer-term planning and budget stability. In exchange, each department would have to sign up to quantifiable outcome measures in the form of a Public Service Agreement. The aim was clarity and transparency on what the government was meant to deliver for taxpayers’ money. At the same time, a small number of cross cutting reviews were carried out. One, the Comprehensive Spending Review on Services for Children Under Eight, resulted in the creation of Sure Start.  (more…)

Rediscovering the human element

Tue 25th Oct 20112 Comments »

Public services have emphasised targets and guidelines at the expense of understanding the importance of human relationships according to a new book by David Boyle FRSA. Changing this will be vital to driving down costs and improving outcomes but has major implications for the shape of institutions and their workforce.

Some years ago, I went to a conference about the future of extended schools. The first speaker was an amazing headteacher, Debbie Morrison, then the head of Mitchell High School in Stoke on Trent, who is the first story in my book The Human Element.

She told the dramatic story about how the school had been turned around, and also her first day in post. There had been a commotion outside her office and her secretary warned her to remain where she was. An angry parent had recently hit another member of staff around the head with a pair of muddy shorts. Three years on, one of the angriest parents was the head of the school’s anti-social behaviour unit.  Her friends had also taken responsible roles around the school.  And they were paid – unusual this one – in chocolate coins. (more…)

RSA Animate – The Divided Brain

Mon 24th Oct 201119 Comments »

Renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our ‘divided brain’ has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society. Taken from a lecture given by Iain McGilchrist as part of the RSA’s free public events programme.

Could FE go mutual?

Thu 6th Oct 20112 Comments »

Further education colleges lost much of their connections to community in the drive to make them more commercial. FRSAs Gill Howland and Jamie Smith believe there is now a sea change in government thinking that could herald the arrival of the mutual approach.

Colleges of further education have a long history of providing opportunities for a wide range of people to gain skills and qualifications, as well as to learn for pleasure. Key agents of social mobility, they have played an important part in improving the life chances of people of all ages, by opening the door to more life choices. Because they are rooted in local communities, very many colleges have also contributed significantly to community cohesion. They added social value to local communities through a range of activities, including evening classes, taster courses, and sporting and arts events. Local colleges often came to be considered by young and old alike as the heart and soul of the local area.

This changed when government policy and funding requirements began to drive the sector firmly in the direction of providing skills training in response to nationally and regionally determined priorities. This led to greater competition as colleges tried to secure funding from ever diminishing pots. It opened up the market to the growth of private training providers, who were often more skilled in competing for contracts on a commercial basis, and who could deliver qualifications more cheaply because they were generally not concerned with adding value to the wider community. (more…)

Prevention in social care

Mon 3rd Oct 20111 Comment »

Prevention is better than cure. So why are cheap preventative services, such as befriending or falls prevention so often axed, to sustain expensive crisis services such as care homes? Some areas invest in prevention and others do not. Alex Fox FRSA asks why.

The government has launched an ‘engagement exercise‘ as part of its deliberations over proposed new social care legislation. The white paper will set the government’s policy direction and respond to the recent Dilnot Commission’s recommendations on funding.

The commission concluded that social care has long been an under funded public service and its final report set out some ways to cap the amount that individuals would pay for their care in later life.  Dilnot argues that limiting the risks to individuals would create the conditions in which a social care insurance market could develop, allowing us to insure ourselves against being bankrupted by unexpected care costs.

One strand of the government’s engagement strategy will generate recommendations to shift social care investment from crisis services to preventative approaches. This is welcome but difficult. (more…)