This month's policy briefing includes our event to launch a report on collaboration, our webinar coming up on public contracting for social impact bonds, as well as the latest national and international updates form this sector. Sign up to receive weekly policy briefings every Monday on Tiny Letter.
Event Are we Rallying Together? - We are launching our latest report at the People’s History Museum in Manchester on 28th March. Our report looks at collaboration between communities and local government, exploring successes and common challenges. The day will share insights from our brand new research, provide a forum for practitioners to explore how this learning can be put into practice, and help us to gather input for our future research. Register your interest online. GO Lab
Event Agenda and speakers announced - Are we Rallying Together? - On 28th March we will be launching our latest report on collaboration and public sector reform at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. Donna Hall, Chief Executive of pioneering Wigan Council (incoming Chair of the New Local Government Network) will give the keynote address. View our event page for the full agenda and list of confirmed speakers. GO Lab
Webinar Public contracting for social impact bonds - We are hosting a webinar on 19th March for those drawing up a contract for a SIB. It will explore why SIB contracts are different to fee-for-service or grant-based agreements. It will also look at the challenges and how they may be addressed, as well as share key considerations that need to be made. GO Lab
Blog Five things to avoid when drawing up an outcomes based or SIB contract - Prior to the above webinar, you can read our blog that shares the five things to avoid when drawing up an outcomes contract or a SIB. For example, don’t just use standard payment terms or standard monitoring terms. GO Lab
News How can local authorities successfully and sustainable tackle homelessness in their area - An article that looks at the state of homelessness in the UK and three different options that seeks to help. These are: 'alternative giving', peer-led support and outcomes based commissioning. The last point explores social impact bonds and impact funding and how it is currently being rolled out to rehome people. Local Gov
Event Learning from the Essex Edge of Care social impact bond – use the password ‘SIB’ to view this event. This is a free half-day seminar on Thursday 14th March at 1-4.30pm in Chelmsford. It is organised to share learnings and findings on the outcomes from the Essex Edge of Care social impact bond which has completed 5 years of operation. Social Finance
Reflection South London: Our impact bond transfers risk to social investors - Our GO Lab Fellow of Practice Terry Clark shares his work on the Pan-London social impact bond. This SIB supports families to stay together where the young person is at risk of entering the care system. This is a subscription website, you get a few free articles per month. Local Government Chronicle.
Report The community paradigm: why public services need radical change and how it can be achieved – This report by the New Local Government Network sets out a ‘compelling case for a deep shift in public services based on a completely new relationship between citizen and state.’ This looks at collaboration between public services and citizens, sharing power and resources more directly with people, to embed prevention and ensure future sustainability. NLGN
Blog Six reasons our public services need a paradigm shift towards the community – This blog accompanies the community paradigm report and offers six reasons why we need to move fast. 1. Public services are not viable in the short term. 2. But public services are not sustainable in the long term either. 3. People expect more influence over their lives… NLGN
Publication Strengths based assessments can improve outcomes but flaws must not be ignored - John Bolton, a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University and a former GO Lab Fellow of Practice has published a paper arguing that strengths based assessments are a viable method of delivering more effective and sustainable adult social care, but flaws in the approach need to be acknowledged. Community Care
Profile Donna Hall: 'You've got to go for it big style' A profile on Donna Hall who is leaving her position as Chief Executive of Wigan Council to become the chair of the New Local Government Network. She shares her thoughts her successful work in Wigan to achieve better outcomes across a range of sectors. Donna will be giving a key note address at our Rallying Together launch event on March 28th. Local Government Chronicle
News Hancock backs joint public health commissioning - Health secretary, Matt Hancock argues that joint commissioning could be the way forward for public health services including health visiting and school nursing. Local Government Chronicle
Conference Helping each other out of the crisis The Public Service Transformation Academy (PSTA) are hosting their second annual conference on Thursday 23rd May. It will involve over 200 thought leaders and practitioners working on public service transformation to help each other understand what works and doesn’t work in achieving better outcomes for citizens from public service design and delivery. PSTA
Event Advancing the science of scaling up - Improving efficiency and effectiveness of implementation strategies in healthcare - This is the theme of the second UK Implementation Science Research Conference on 18thJuly at Kings College London. This conference gives an opportunity for applied health researchers and policy makers to come together and share how best to implement evidence-based practice and clinical research within health services. Kings College London
Response to GO Lab Stuart Gallimore: The Brexit focus risks creating a lost generation - Following our article in The Guardian, Stuart Gallimore, Director of Children’s Services East Sussex County Council shares his similar view that Brexit is a distraction for developing public services. He shares his thoughts on the impact on children in care and those on free school meals. Local Government Chronicle - This is a subscription service, but you get a few articles for free each month.
Opinion A quiet revolution in public services has got Whitehall’s attention - Adrian Brown, Executive Director at the Centre for Public Impact argues that the era of top-down public service delivery is giving way to a grassroots enablement mindset. He believes that this is happening at a time when the chance to radically rethink government is more urgent than it has been for years. Civil Service World
News Prince Charles to unveil $100 million fund for women empowerment Not what you might expect, but Prince Charles will unveil a fund that will channel bond investors’ money to give women and girls greater access to better education, jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities over the next five years. A key element of the project is the idea of a development impact bond involving the British Asian Trust. Bloomberg
Opinion Finding the sweet spot for innovation within government systems – There are three guiding principles for NGOs looking to find where they best fit within government-run systems and ensure long-term impact. These are: i) people are the solutions, ii) create conditions to optimise interventions iii) build genuine partnerships. Stanford Social Innovation Review
Opinion Reasons to be cheerful about the future of local government – This piece by Nick Kimber, a public policy professional, argues that there’s no getting away from the funding crisis – but creative solutions are rising. This article was originally published by Apolitical.
Government guidance The Outsourcing Playbook – New guidance has just published by the UK Government that outlines a series of key new policies for making outsourcing decisions and contracting outside suppliers for the delivery of public services. You can read the official press release for a summary.
Response by Institute for Government – This opinion piece highlights four reasons why the government does not go far enough in the Outsourcing Playbook. One of these points is that the playbook will only work is government collects and shares the right data. Institute for Government
News Working Links, outsourcer with £1bn of public contracts collapses - Announcement comes as damning report finds probation service at one of collapsed company’s subsidiaries ‘inadequate’. Civil Service World
News Outsourcers should be subject to FOI - The head of the Information Commissioner’s Office, Elizabeth Denham shared a report in parliament stating that the government should designate contractors that carry out public functions as public authorities, which would open them to scrutiny under the FOI Act. Civil Service World
News Outsourcing firm Interserve agree financial rescue plan A deal has been reached to reduce the company’s debt burden from £600 million to around £275 million following talks with lenders and the Cabinet Office. These plans include a renewed focus on winning contracts in the government and defence sector, in addition to private sector, communities, and citizens services. Civil Service World
News Local government outsourcing fell by more than £80 million in 2018 - The total value of local outsourcing contracts agreed by councils in 2018 fell from £258 million to £176 million. However, the public sector outsourcing market soared to a three year high, with government organisations signing contracts worth £2.9billion. LocalGov
United States Atlanta raises $14 million environmental impact bond from public - Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management has raised $14 million environmental impact bond through a public offering to minimise flooding and improve drainage in economically disadvantaged and flood-prone neighbourhoods in the city. Impact Alpha
You can read more about this environmental impact bond in this press release.
Kenya Opportunities for innovative financing for Universal Health Coverage launched in Kenya - A new white paper on innovative financing models has been launched at the Sankalp Africa Summit in an effort to achieve universal health coverage. CIO
Latin America, Caribbean It takes more than 2 to tango: Impact bonds in Latin America and the Caribbean – This Brookings piece highlights the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean and how impact bonds are playing a part in addressing them. A really useful article that shares four factors that make this region potentially fertile ground for this financing tool. Brookings
East Asia Leading the charge – This article looks at businesses in East Asia that are crossing boundaries and creating alliances to solve complex social problems that have not been tried before. A quick read by the CEO of Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation. Stanford Social Innovation Review
United States Paying for success: The story of how Utah became a leader in social impact investing A Utah preschool programme that helped hundreds of severely at risk 4 year olds avoid costly special education programmes is ‘making waves across the country’. This programme ran from 2013 to 2018, serving 4000 preschoolers. To date, only 10% of the 454 preschoolers originally determined to be severely at risk of needing special education services have actually needed to access those services, saving the state of Utah $2.5 million. Deseret News