Monday 29th December 2008, 14:35Speaking at the House of LordsSounds a bit grand but I had a lovely opportunity to speak at one of the private rooms in the House of Lords just before Christmas. I was contrasting UK and Israeli welfare reforms given that both countries are undertaking their own review of policy direction and implementation. James Purnell and David Blunkett were speaking, so it was an interesting reflection of where UK welfare policy has come from and is moving to. I was pulling out similarities and differences from our experience in both countries.
There were some really good questions. As ever, the crucial role of the persona..Mark LovellView Complete Post Friday 19th December 2008, 13:52Franco-German Welfare ReformsIt’s been interesting – well interesting for a geek like me – to follow some of the discussions between M. Sarkozy and Frau Merkel on the stimulus packages (or not) and the impact on each country’s economy to tackle recessionary pressures. The FT yesterday had an interesting article on responses to recession, economic and social similarities/differences and the unemployment rates in each country.
We are moving into the third year of our businesses in France and Germany. The teams there do a wonderful job as they are both developing new and different res..Mark LovellView Complete Post Monday 15th December 2008, 15:42International Public Services – DeAnne JuliusEarlier this year I went to Washington as part of a working group from the UK promoting the DeAnne Julius report. There were some good headlines outlining best practice and learning that we had developed in the UK as we have evolved the use of third and private sector suppliers in the design and delivery of public services.
My personal view is that where PFI and capital/infrastructure projects have dominated the landscape over the last 10-15 years, the next 10-15 years will see the continued, rapid evolution of front line public service markets. There will still be significant infr..Mark LovellView Complete Post Tuesday 9th December 2008, 15:01Long Lost FriendI got a lovely e-mail from an old friend recently in response to the Blog. Ted was one of a small handful of us in the first days of A4e who helped set up and launch our first piece of business. It was lovely to hear from him and he is claiming he is 72 now – can’t believe that, 65 max I reckon. He is one of many wonderful people who have helped A4e grow and transform over the years. A phrase I have repeated when talking about A4e's growth is that if destination and end points are how you work, then A4e probably isn’t the place for you. If the journey – and many st..Mark LovellView Complete Post Tuesday 9th December 2008, 01:14The lesson of the dummiesI have the pleasure of being the chair of governors at the school my children attend. It is a great privilege to be able to support the staff and leadership team as they ensure these children get the very best start in life. This weekend was the school Christmas Fair and Father Christmas was our most important guest. We were thrilled he was able to spare a few hours to meet the children and learn what they would like for Christmas and whether they had been good boys and girls for the last year. I had the honour to help Father Christmas in some of his tasks as he had so many children to meet. <..Roy NeweyView Complete Post Thursday 4th December 2008, 10:47Queen's SpeechI was in London yesterday walking between meetings and got caught up in the parade back from Westminster. What a lot of horses – some nice carriages too. And I didn’t know the crown jewels went for a trip as well. There you go. Anyway, some thoughts on some of the legislative agenda that struck me..
The Equality Bill: I quite like this one as it makes sense to me. One aspect of it is staffing breakdown. Wherever we work we employ people from the locality to deliver front line retailers. So do many of the businesses I have worked with. Good employers .. Mark LovellView Complete Post Wednesday 3rd December 2008, 10:46What you been up to?Getting a bit of grief about lack of Blogs so thought it was time I made an effort. Since Washington – and the immediate trip to Israel and Palestine on the back of US – I have spent most of my time outside the business with government stakeholders but also with people in the world of finance. We have ambitious plans to grow the business to £500m and £1bn.
Our work is focused on tackling poverty, economic development and social development so it’s important we have a strong, robust financial foundations and a clear financial strategy alongside our busi..Mark LovellView Complete Post |
Archives
|