Last week saw another report released in the wake of Carillion’s collapse. “After Carillion: Public sector outsourcing and contracting”, a new report from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, offers valuable insights to guide the future of public private partnerships (PPPs). These range from the importance of focusing on the quality of outcomes over […]

Woefully low levels of productivity in the UK have been observed for a number of years now. Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that UK GDP output per worker is 16.6% below the combined G7 nations level. As the Government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper recognises – this stark differential has implications for […]

Whether facilitating, researching or tweeting, the question of how to establish the changemaking councils and communities of tomorrow is never far from my thoughts. The more time I spend on NLGN’s changemaking vision, the more I am reminded of my time living in rural Spain, where communities founded upon creativity, collaboration and self-determination were not […]

The announcement that made headlines in an otherwise low-key speech from MHCLG Secretary of State James Brokenshire at this year’s LGA Conference concerned the establishment of a board to encourage closer collaboration between national and local governments on Brexit. Local government has been starved of opportunities to engage formally and meaningfully with the UK Government […]

This article first appeared on The Local Government Chronicle website on 2nd July 2018 Let’s face it, the bar is not exactly high. As long as James Brokenshire manages to get out of the hall at the LGA Conference tomorrow without offending every member of his audience with his speech, he’ll be ahead of last […]

As the local government clans gather in Birmingham this week, let me offer a view counter to the apparent increasing trend for local political leaders to work full-time in their leadership role. I suspect it is an unpopular view. With the changes heralded by the Local Government Act 2000, directly elected mayors of local authorities […]

11,000 young people leave care every year, including foster and residential placements, and start their transition to adulthood. For many, this is a difficult journey. Not only do young people have to grow up fast, many moving to live independently from their 18th birthday, but often have a great deal to cope with due to […]

There is nothing new about English devolution being couched in economic terms, particularly as the UK Government has pinned the devolution agenda in England firmly to the spatial framework of city regions. What is remarkable is that, under May’s premiership, there is a growing tendency for the UK Government to talk about English devolution in […]