Posts tagged with ‘ Mutuals ’

If we’ve learnt one thing from the Government’s faltering attempts to radically reform the NHS, it’s that nobody likes surprises. The Coalition failed to fully test its reforms with policymakers and professionals, resulting in public and practitioner resistance that led to the plans being first delayed, then substantially revised. So it must surely be...

The quote serves as a reminder that over the last 30 years public service reform has been underpinned by some common, perhaps clichéd themes. Successive governments have repeatedly told us they will make public services more ‘citizen centric’, will ‘open up government’ and provide more ‘choice’ for service users. So is Cameron’s promise  to...

On Friday 11 February the Prime Minister launched a new approach to government procurement. As part of his Big Society vision, public services would be thrown open to competition and there would be a “right to bid” for delivery of public services.

How do the words ‘mutual’ and ‘co-operative’ make you feel? For many, they conjure up positive feelings of togetherness and community. Everyone loves John Lewis and we can all understand how giving people a direct stake in an organisation they work for, or are served by, is a good idea.

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist reportedly said that “anyone who isn’t shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” And so it is with the Big Society.