European Services Strategy Unit

A detailed analysis of the proposed transfer of the London Borough of Barnet’s Housing Service to Barnet Homes, the ALMO established in 2004. The Council truncated the options appraisal and business case into one process, limiting the options and pre-selecting the preferred option, and has led to a further deterioration in the quality of options appraisals and business cases in Barnet.

The London Borough of Barnet plans to establish a LATC that requires Adult Services to generate up to 90% of the £0.7m annual profit. Yet the financial viability of Barnet Group Ltd (Yours Choice Barnet and Barnet Homes) is highly questionable. This report details the flawed appraisal process, the reasons for financial instability, governance and the potential impact on service users and staff.

The Database now covers 48 strategic partnerships and has been expanded with more analysis of operational contracts, a new Strategic Partnership Performance Ratio, and new tables on community trusts in strategic partnerships and contractor performance.

Analysis of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets approach to procurement of a strategic partnership for ICT and corporate services, employing 615 staff. Reveals that there was no evidence of an options or business case prior to the start of procurement. Highlights the limitations of strategic partnerships and the potential impact on the local economy if services are located elsewhere. Proposes an alternative approach to service improvement.

Paperback £18.00 – ISBN: 978 085124 7939 Order online at: http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/Dexter_Whitfield.html#a601

ePUB format of the book is available @ £11.99 – ISBN: 978 0 85124 7946. Order: http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/ePUB_eBooks.html#a240

A Summary of the book and the Press Release is also available on the ESSU website.

The London Borough of Barnet is considering terminating a 15 year leisure services contract. This is a story of mismanagement of a single service contract that again exposes the high-risk strategy and assumptions proposed by the One Barnet model. Meanwhile, the Council is at the procurement stage of several multi- service, multi-million pound, long-term contracts that are up to 50 times the value of the leisure contract!

A detailed analysis of the proposed transfer of the London Borough of Barnet’s Housing Service to Barnet Homes, the ALMO established in 2004. The Council truncated the options appraisal and business case into one process, limiting the options and pre-selecting the preferred option, and has led to a further deterioration in the quality of options appraisals and business cases in Barnet.

The London Borough of Barnet plans to establish a LATC that requires Adult Services to generate up to 90% of the £0.7m annual profit. Yet the financial viability of Barnet Group Ltd (Yours Choice Barnet and Barnet Homes) is highly questionable. This report details the flawed appraisal process, the reasons for financial instability, governance and the potential impact on service users and staff.

In Place of Austerity, Restructuring the economy, state and public services, by Dexter Whitfield, Spokesman.

In the last thirty years public transport services throughout Europe have been subjected to various sorts of privatisation. Reforms introducing competition and market rules into public transport have challenged the public service ethos that these services operate under. The role of successive UK governments in these reforms is well understood and documented. However the role of EU law, policy and institutions in this area is not. The EU, and in particular the European Commission, have had a considerable impact on public policy choices concerning public transport in EU member states since the early 1990s. Those in the UK who seek to redirect public transport policy away from privatisation and toward truly ‘public’ alternatives are to be advanced need to be aware that EU policy will also need to be challenged. At the very least it is accepted that a full understanding of the EU’s role is necessary and dealing with these questions.

The European dimension to postal sector liberalisation is often overlooked as successive UK governments have pursued the liberalisation route for its universal postal service: the Royal Mail. Postal sectors in Europe, traditionally dominated by public sector monopolies, have been progressively opened up to increased competition courtesy of European Union (EU) directives, introduced since the mid-1990s as part of EU’s competition agenda and Single Market Programme. This long process of phased liberalisation has come to fruition recently with the last remnants of universal service providers’ protected services being abolished. On January 1st 2011 the Directive introducing ‘full’ liberalisation into European postal sectors was introduced the EU.

Soundings Winter 2010, Issue 46, pp99-111.

Outlines the elements of neoliberal transformation of the public sector and the criteria needed to assess the level of embeddedness and effectiveness of recent ‘reform’. It identifies key challenges beyond 2010 and proposes strategies to achieve progressive and systemic change.