Comment – We can work it out, by Paul Raynes

 Comment – We can work it out, by Paul Raynes (PF 29/6/07)

Counter point to this. Tension between devolved models of service provision and Freud’s regional monopoly model. Clients, not financing structures should drive policy. Ultimately regional contractors would use local subcontractors, leading to a top-down bureaucracy. In reality labour markets are local, as are unemployment problems.

Work in progress, by Mark Conrad

Work in progress, by Mark Conrad (PF 17/8/07)

Contract out difficult job-seekers on payment by results basis. NPM style innovation. Jobcentre Plus would only handle short-term routine cases. Specialist cases would be contracted out on regional monopoly ‘mega-contracts’. Regional monopolies can be co-ordinated but are more difficult to manage (what if you don’t get the results you need?) Driven by cost savings – well-capitalised providers vs. tight government budgets, economies of scale.

Hanging on the telephone? By Justin Pugsley

Hanging on the telephone? By Justin Pugsley (PF 9/3/07)

Call centres at the DWP run up huge backlogs and are under-resourced.

Problems with old IT system, wrong skill mix (e.g. more temps at peak times would help), and lack of labour flex to match staff to peak times.

Work in progress, by Mark Conrad

Work in progress, by Mark Conrad (PF 17/8/07)

Discussion of new green paper on getting the long term unemployed into work. Government’s use of reports like this is an indication of the use of strategic planning systems – there is a heavy reliance on data and statistics to support conclusions. Equally, the article shows a lot of stakeholders with concerns: inside the government, charities, thinktanks, civil servants and trade unions