News & views

We collate and provide links to news and views from around the world to help share ideas and thinking for policy makers, procurers, providers, and any other organisations working in the public sector sphere to deliver better public services.

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Opinion Feature: Commissioning after coronavirus
Elizabeth Chamberlain, Head of Policy & Public Services at NCVO, asks what the 'new normal' should look like for voluntary sector commissioning.
27th August 2020
Michael Gove gives Ditchley Annual Lecture on 'The privilege of public service'
1st July 2020
Analysis: Michael Gove's lecture on 'The privilege of public service'
The criticality of evidence, inclusion, experimentation and innovation in public services: The Serco Institute analyses Saturday’s speech by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and considers its implications for public and private sector partners.
30th June 2020
UK Government publishes Outsourcing Playbook Version 2.0
UK Government publishes Outsourcing Playbook Version 2.0
10th June 2020
Institute for Government: Carillion - Two Years On
Two years after the collapse of Carillion, and a year after the government published its Outsourcing Playbook, this report provides a stocktake of whether changes have been implemented
5th March 2020
Panel appearance: transparency in outsourcing
On Thursday 27th February, Institute Director Kate Steadman contributed to an important panel on transparency in outsourcing.
28th February 2020
Roundtable: (Out)sourcing Playbook V2.0
The Institute was delighted to co-host a seminar on the (Out)sourcing Playbook, with guest speakers from Government and the private sector.
14th February 2020
Blog: Is this the Public Service Parliament?
Amongst the new MPs’ fascinating backgrounds, there is a strong and consistent theme of service, particularly in the public sector. This bodes positively for a post-Brexit, technology-driven world in which innovative ways of designing and delivering public services will be more important, perhaps, than at any time since the creation of the modern welfare state.
7th January 2020
Institute Event & Article: ‘Social Value – More Questions than Answers?’.
3rd December 2019
View: Social value is the latest frontier for public procurement and value for money
Social value is the value attributed to economic, social and environmental outcomes that tangibly contribute to the well-being, resilience and sustainability of society and the wider environment. Through policy. (Source: paconsutling via civilserviceworld.com)
18th November 2019
News: Sector bodies join forces to help smaller charities bid for public services
The NCVO, Acevo and the Lloyds Bank Foundation have established Rebalancing the Relationship to adjust the relationship between large and small charities in bidding for public services contracts. (Source: thirdsector.co.uk)
18th November 2019
News: Care robots could revolutionise UK care system and provide staff extra support
The UK moves one step closer to developing robots capable of providing support for Britons and making caring responsibilities easier, thanks to £34 million government investment announced today. (source: gov.uk)
18th November 2019
New Thinking: Exploring the link between social policy and public trust
Historically, there has been a strong link between robust social policy and higher levels of public trust. Source: themandarin.com.au
10th October 2019
NESTA: Radical Views of Future Government
This is written from a British context, but combinations of these issues have a resonance in governments around the world. We wanted a serious rethink about what government is, what it should do, and how it should work. source: media.nesta.org.uk
26th September 2019
Institute for Government: Government outsourcing - what has worked and what needs reform?
"Labour’s policy of bringing public services back into government hands by default would be a mistake. But senior politicians have consistently overstated how much money is saved by outsourcing services". (instituteforgovernment.org.uk)
16th September 2019
View: Forget AI in healthcare, augmented intelligence and distributed ledger technology will transform healthcare
“Healthcare is not like banking,” says Dr. Anushka Patchava, Expert Adviser to the United Nations. “Rather it’s a more emotional business. Artificial intelligence in healthcare implies the use of…non-human systems, like computers, performing tasks such as decision-making, without a human touch".(informationage.com)
13th September 2019
New Thinking: Giving the charitable sector the tools it needs to survive
A new report from Canada recommends a national volunteerism strategy and a regulatory approach that updates the definition of a charity.
6th September 2019
Autonomous passenger ferries: Congestion-buster or hype on the high seas?
The world’s first autonomous passenger ferry demonstration took place off the coast of Finland ealier this year. Are we set to see such services scale up?
6th September 2019
News: UK installs next-generation digital signage on its roads
Construction and engineering technology company, Costain, and traffic technology group, Swarco, have partnered to develop and install the next generation of digital road message signs across England (Source:https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/uk-installs-next-generation-digital-signage-on-its-roads-4499)
23rd August 2019
New thinking: NEWS How can AI-powered cameras measure customers’ happiness?
AI-enabled cameras are helping the RTA to analyse the facial expressions of passengers which then allows decision-makers to take actions to rectify the situation. (Source: https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/86522/ai-powered-cameras-measure-happiness/)
23rd August 2019
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