The cost of telecom services is an obvious target when public sector organisations are looking for savings, but cutting the budget is difficult. Ben Mendoza describes the difficulty of navigating through the fog of vast amounts of data to find where to cut and how to negotiate with suppliers from a position of strength. He presents a way through the data haze.
Read more on WHY IS MORE BEING SPENT ON TELECOMS SERVICES WHILE SERVICES GET CHEAPER?…
Not only does benchmarking tell an organisation how it performs, but also how much better it should perform. As the squeeze on the public finances tightens, money must go further. For top management, it explains the strategic approach of relationships with partners and how benchmarking with them can become a process of continuous improvement.
Ofsted has called for schools to face up to the challenge to modernise the design and technology curriculum so that it keeps pace with global technological developments.
The report identifies a lack of subject-specific training for teachers that is undermining efforts to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills. Too many teachers are failing to keep pace with technological developments or expand on their initial training sufficiently to enable them to teach the technically demanding aspects of the curriculum. This often results in an out-dated curriculum in the later years of primary schools and early years of secondary schools.
Read more on CALL TO MODERNISE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOY CURRICULUM…
Publication of the White Paper Open Public Services, the blueprint for reform of public services, has been deferred until May. It was planned to publish with the Budget. The radical nature of the paper and the shape it will take was signalled strongly in the consultation document published in November 2010.There is speculation that the delay results from a Cabinet split and a desire not to adversely affect one or both parties of the Coalition in the local elections on 5th May.
Read more on PUBLIC SERVICE WHITE PAPER DELAYED –SO WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD…
Public service employees are being encouraged to form mutuals to deliver services to fulfil the Government’s aim of creating innovative alternatives to public service delivery and promoting the Big Society by supporting people to stand up and do something about the problems they see. Measures to widen the appeal of mutuals to employees and to encourage their development are likely to feature in the forthcoming Open Public Services White Paper.
Read more on PUBLIC SERVICE MUTUALS TO PROMOTE THE BIG SOCIETY…
Social Impact Bonds provide a funding stream to support innovative ideas that can help in tackling complex social issues through prevention and early intervention. Examples of their use include reducing re-offending and tackling alcohol and drugs abuse. The use of Social Impact bonds is likely to receive a boost in the forthcoming Open Public Services White Paper.
This vision of what the public service landscape may look like in 2020 has been compiled by Roger Britton who is with Worcestershire County Council. It is the outcome of discussions with people involved in public service across the country and of collaboration with Local Government Improvement and Development. There is much scope for debate about the detail of the vision but what is really important is to figure out what needs to be done now to prepare the workforce and organisations for the future which will probably look something like the vision set out in the following paragraphs. Your views on what needs to be done will be most welcome. Please email: editor@publicnet.co.uk.
By Craig and Patricia Neal.
‘Meetings are a waste of time’ is a sentiment many of us share, which is tragic, because meetings bring us together as human beings. To achieve the kind of meaning or breakthrough results most of us really yearn for when we gather, the key quality needed is authentic engagement: a genuine expression of what is true for us, and an attentive listening to what is true for others. Why it so often eludes us can be a matter of habit, distrust, lack of attention, or fear.
Read more on THE ART OF CONVENING: AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT IN MEETINGS GATHERINGS AND CONVERSATIONS…
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