Wednesday 5 September 2012

Reshuffled

Always difficult to know what exactly a change of personnel will mean for our own sector, but one thing is for sure. We need to get to know the new people in the new roles.

One of the key areas for our sector is social care and health. Jeremy Hunt has in the past been very open to reform of public services and a broader role for independent and third sector organisations in delivery. That is a crucial part of the agenda.

2 facts about health Jeremy must hold firmly in mind:

70% of his budget is spent on long term conditions

The majority of people in hospital beds are over 60.

So the task is to shift resources from acute hospitals into prevention and support for people with LTC.

That inevitably means a bigger role for the third sector. I’m seeing Jeremy shortly so will reinforce this message. Acevo had a strong working relationship with Lansley and we want that to continue with the new guy.

On welfare to work, no one can pretend the relationship has been sparkling. There have been huge problems. We hope we can start afresh with the Department now that we have a new Minister replacing Grayling. And I do hope that in his new role Grayling will remember his key job is not to put more people in prison but to tackle the revolving door which means the majority of people who have been in prison are back there in a year.

I was delighted to see the talented and able Nick Boles into the planning job. He is a real star. He was on our Big Society Commission and he charmed members at our last AGM in the Commons. I'm sure he will not want his first Ministerial job to be marred by destroying the green belt As a supporter of localism I'm sure he will not allow any changes that diminish the voice of communities in planning decisions !

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