Insights from Within
In this special guest blog, we hear from Bill Wells in response to Richard’s recent piece on changing the way children’s services are commissioned. Bill Wells worked in DWP, BIS, and its labour market predecessors, for over 35 years. As a labour market economist he has a national and international reputation. During this time he had … Continue reading
Think of the children
When the state intervenes in the UK and takes a child into its care, it surely does so with all the best intentions. The intervention is instigated in response to and governed by strict rules on child welfare or ‘safeguarding’, made even tighter since the infamous, sad case of Baby Peter. It costs over £2.5 … Continue reading
Quality performance in refugee management???
The UK government will never accept an EU refugee quota. However, we have already seen how the public cry of horror at a drowning child can soften a political heart, and draw out a commitment to take more displaced people. This commitment includes targeting those with arguably the highest level of need, in camps closest … Continue reading
Failing without accountability
In the US a significant proportion of charter schools are delivering weaker than expected performance, with little consequence for the contract holders. On Monday (19th March) Chris Grayling, the UK Minister for Employment, faced the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Select Committee and underlined his commitment to culling failing Work Programme providers and transferring … Continue reading
Parking by place
Concerns about creaming and parking in welfare-to-work programmes are not new and have resurfaced in the last month or so, particularly in relation to clients with specific disadvantages and how well they are being served by Work Programme providers. Richard has recently written about this topic. In this context it is important to consider the … Continue reading
Buying Quality Performance 