... accepted within the sector. It cannot impose, but if it doesn’t offer something that hasn’t been offered before it will not be worth doing. It must both engage with and challenge the private sector rather ...

... real and lasting change. So what’s the problem? Why wouldn’t it work? And where does that leave the sector? No-one can possibly know for certain what the introduction of LGDS would mean for local government. ...

... and events a network has been building and growing which does all that LGDS would do but has the added benefit of doing things from within, meaning they will be far more palatable for the sector to accept. ...

... they aren’t, the policy itself does not meet the needs. Let’s look at them in turn: 1)    Preventing urban sprawl A belt of a mile or two across would manage this and you certainly wouldn’t require ...

... of devolution’s purpose.  The asymmetric approach is, in my opinion, correct given how wide the “readiness” gap is for greater responsibilities & opportunities, but this does mean there will be considerable ...

... foot. Rather than react to problems we need to proactively shape the future. Which brings us back to where we started: how much does a Birmingham woman earn compared to a man? The answer is £81 for every ...

... I believe in the devolution agenda being the right one in the long term does not mean that I support the idea of passing over powers to councils, or regions, that have made no indication that they want ...

... is a problem that’s getting worse. And quite simply it’s unacceptable. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Scotland used to suffer from the problem of uncontested seats. But this was eradicated by the ...

... there – but it does ensure that competition will always be in place. This may go a long way to reconnecting party candidates to communities, as well as enabling local people to in return connect with ...

... reckoning the Conservatives' reputation for financial judiciousness won the day. So what does this mean for the future of public services in the next five years and beyond?  Without their erstwhile ...

... difficult to remain hopeful for the future when the person theoretically at the top of the local government decision making pile does nothing but publicly and privately berate your work and belittle your ...

... recognise the challenges but as we went through the day and discussed ethnography and it's role in innovation I was reminded of this challenge. A good social worker does something like this when designing ...

... leanings which will be reflected in their policy campaigns [6]. This doesn’t mean the opinions/views/ reports should be dismissed without consideration but we need to recognise and understand where the ...

... when they launched Verify, the new way in which they are able to verify who you are online (do you see what they did there with the name? I told you they were clever…). It doesn’t try to get you to create ...

... ‘banned’ list (which I hope would be empty) at the start of every meeting. It’s easy to do and I can’t imagine any member of the public objecting to it.   In fact with an election coming up does anyone ...

... we face in delivering them. But that’s not the story for today; theoretical cuts are not going to cut it in the pantheon of public debate. The fact that we are projecting the future through our work does ...

... boss would love to put you in for an award, the posh London hotel, the train travel and the overnight London hotel. But your boss doesn't have a spare £600 anymore.   So, that's why we came up with ...

... think this doesn’t matter when compared to their ability to do their job. Yes, discrimination does unfortunately still exist, but as far as facts go none of these things make a blind bit of difference ...

... instances of misused resources; the scandal of £3,500+ per week beds in assessment and treatment units for one example. This does not mean the system is adequately resourced.   There is a wider context ...

... Just saying “be more like us” not only does others no good but it does a huge disservice to those who are good, not valuing the effort that went into things and making it seem as if everyone could do exactly ...