Vitalising Purpose: The Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services
We depend on public services for a functioning society. But there are record pressures on our health, social care and children’s services; and those covering homelessness, housing, domestic abuse, education, employment and training, criminal justice and support. Resources are stretched. Demand is escalating.
Traditional approaches, whereby public authorities either do everything in-house, or outsource services with the same process as when they buy goods, are not delivering good outcomes. The market has failed many people-centred services. We can’t just despair at these challenges. We must do better.
Vitalising Purpose investigates how partnerships between public authorities and social enterprises can make a difference to how public services are provided, and to people’s lives.
It gives inspiring examples of the ‘social enterprise difference’, and practical ideas, and accompanies the book, Vitalising Purpose: The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services, available in paperback and ebook formats.
Vitalising Purpose: The Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services
The Practical Application of the Law in Progressive Procurement and Collaborative Commissioning with Julian Blake, Stone King
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"Probably, lawyers are most responsible for some of the non-progressive aspects of how we deal with public services at the moment," says today's guest, a lawyer.
Julian Blake is a partner at Stone King and co-author of the widely acclaimed 2016 publication, The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement. For over 30 years, he has specialised in social enterprise, charity, responsible business, public service reform and innovation, co-operatives and stakeholder participation – blending business and public benefit legal disciplines.
"The law compounds the failures in facilitating and applying practical frameworks for public service commissioning," writes Julian in the new book, Vitalising Purpose.
"It is deferred to as rigid authority too much and applied purposively too little. The technical lawyer is too dominant and the practical lawyer too underemployed." So what advice can this practical-minded and expert lawyer give us? Plenty. We cover:
- How things have changed since The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement was published in 2016.
- Organisations Julian admires for commissioning progressively, with examples of multi-stakeholder, purpose-aligned partnerships.
- The difference between public value and social value.
- "Social Value Imperatives" and how commissioners and public authorities can use them.
- Open book accounting in public service delivery.
- More public authorities are creating Innovation Partnerships, or entities equivalent to them, since trailblazers and pioneers did so.
- What the future looks like with a new Procurement Bill (and associated Guidance) coming.
What next?
- Visit the Stone King website: https://www.stoneking.co.uk
- Julian has written a chapter for Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services.
- A 'must-read for chief executives, heads of transformation, commissioners and procurement officers, and social entrepreneurs,' the book is available in paperback and ebook formats here: https://e3m.org.uk/vitalising-purpose-book/
- And from Amazon here ( https://amzn.eu/d/6f25KJB )
- The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement, co-written by Julian Blake and Frank Villeneuve, is available here: https://e3m.org.uk/the-art-of-the-possible-in-public-procurement/
- Part 1 Consultation on draft regulations to implement the Procurement Bill (which closes on 28 July 2023).
