21/01/2011
Social enterprise at the heart of public service reform
Social enterprise is at the heart of public service reform. The drive to create efficiencies in local government and to promote innovation and staff ownership over service design and delivery have led to the development of new thinking across the public sector on how social enterprise can be used to deliver.
SEL’s Transitions guide is one of the first publications in the UK to outline exactly how a public sector worker can go about establishing a social enterprise out of a local authority. Speaking at the launch of the guide, Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock and Kensington and Chelsea Council Chief Executive Derek Myers offered some of the strongest support heard so far in the capital for public sector staff to establish social enterprise public services.
Sir Steve Bullock emphasised the enormous financial challenges faced across the public sector and identified social enterprise as a method for capturing the energy and dynamism inherent in many public sector workers.
He cited the example of a group of Lewisham Council staff who came to him recently with an idea for a new service which he said “breaks new ground. That’s the point. It’s not just doing the same old things through a different method, it’s about innovating through new models, to deliver deeper and more efficient outcomes.”
Sir Steve praised the Transitions guide, arguing that it offers “inspiration, showing very clearly that although a difficult process, establishing a social enterprise absolutely can be done”. He went on to say how important it is that the document provides “practical advice, pointing staff clearly in the right direction for advice and support.”
Derek Myers (pctured speaking at SEL's Social Enterprise and Local Government Summit at City Hall in 2009) outlined his vision for a world “beyond local government”. He argued particularly that “we are moving from a period of ‘super management’, characterised by overzealous commissioning and central control, to ‘super professionalism’, where staff take responsibility and have the freedom to design and control services tailored to local need, achieving greater efficiency”.
He was very clear that the driver is the need to achieve cost savings, but emphasised that this is an opportunity to innovate, delivering for greater numbers of people in exciting new ways.
SEL CEO Allison Ogden-Newton is at the heart of the development of social enterprise across London’s local government, and has acted as a Commissioner on the development of Lambeth’s Co-operative Council. She said:
“The success of Transitions and the overwhelming support it’s getting from London’s leaders across the spectrum marks extraordinary progress. These are challenging times for public services, but it doesn’t all have to be cut and kill, there is a window of opportunity to reduce costs and create services that are innovative, delivered by people who are passionate about what they do and as social enterprises.”