A new book examined co-production in the provision of public services in developed countries. It considered how co-production could contribute to service quality and service management in public services, and the effect of co-production on growing citizen involvement and the development of participative democracy.
Source: Victor Pestoff, Taco Brandsen, and Bram Verschuere (eds.), New Public Governance, the Third Sector, and Co-Production, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Dec
A report set out a vision for the future of social innovation in Europe. It highlighted how various infrastructural gaps could be overcome in order for the field to develop to maturity.
Source: Carmel O Sullivan, Simon Tucker, Peter Ramsden, Geoff Mulgan, Will Norman, and Diogo Vasconcelos, Financing Social Impact: Funding social innovation in Europe – Mapping the way forward, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book examined what social investment policies entailed and how they had been implemented in developed countries. It questioned whether the recent European 'social investment' strategy was able to regenerate the welfare state, promote social inclusion, create more and better jobs, and help address the challenges posed by the economic crisis, globalization, ageing, and climate change.
Source: Nathalie Morel, Bruno Palier, and Joakim Palme (eds.), Towards a Social Investment Welfare State? Ideas, policies and challenges, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report examined how local authorities could support social enterprises in their area.
Source: Sophie Hostick-Boakye and Mandeep Hothi, Grow Your Own: How local authorities can support social enterprises, Young Foundation
Links: Report | Young Foundation press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A report welcomed the coalition government's policy of providing paid work in custody: but it warned that the policy risked being undermined by a 23 per cent cut to the Ministry of Justice budget. Prisons were not constructed, managed, or staffed to support the work ethic; and significant changes would be needed in all these areas in order for them to do so. The report set out an alternative model of a not-for-profit community prison that would provide custody and rehabilitation services on a single site, working with between 500 and 700 people at any one time.
Source: Rachel O Brien, A Social Enterprise Approach to Prison and Rehabilitation, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
Links: Report | RSA press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report examined how mutuals and co-operatives could serve as models of 'post-crisis reform' in both the private and public sectors.
Source: Michael McTernan (ed.), What Mutualism Means for Labour: Political economy and public services, Policy Network
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
A report said that social impact investment had the potential to evolve from being an emerging market to a very large, mature investment market attracting mainstream investors.
Source: Rupert Evenett and Karl Richter, Making Good in Social Impact Investment: Opportunities in an emerging asset class, The Social Investment Business
Links: Report | Social Enterprise Live report
Date: 2011-Oct
A think-tank report made a series of recommendations designed to help the development of social enterprise. It called on the coalition government to publish a realistic route map for the creation of the 'Big Society Bank'.
Source: Dan Gregory, Sarah McGeehan, Nick Temple, Esther Foreman, Andrew Laird, David Boyle, Mark Walton, Henry Hemming, Dave Dawes, Kirsten van den Hout, and Heloise Wood, Bursting Policy Bubbles, POPse!
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Sep
A report said that social enterprises had a better survival rate than conventional businesses, and were more likely to grow during difficult financial periods.
Source: Eibhlin Ni Ogain, Are Social Enterprises More Resilient in Times Of Limited Resources?, New Philanthropy Capital
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Sep
A think-tank report said that there were significant risks for social enterprise organizations in the coalition government's plans for greater competition in the provision of healthcare services.
Source: Rachael Addicott, Social Enterprise in Health Care: Promoting organisational autonomy and staff engagement, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Aug
A report highlighted an 'emerging generation' of social enterprises that were both starting up and operating in the most deprived communities. 39 per cent of all social enterprises were based and working in the most deprived communities, compared with 13 per cent of all small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Source: Frank Villeneuve-Smith, Fightback Britain: A report on the State of Social Enterprise survey 2011, Social Enterprise UK
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Aug
A report said that 96 per cent of all social investment in 2010 was carried out by just 10 organizations. The social investment sector needed new investment mechanisms if it were to attract money from corporate sources, rather than relying on government and philanthropic funding.
Source: Katie Hill, Investor Perspectives on Social Enterprise Financing, ClearlySo
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report proposed a tailor-made legal and regulatory regime to address the needs of the emerging social investment market. It said that the regime would help the coalition government achieve its ambitions of encouraging the social investment market and making the Big Society Bank a success.
Source: Luke Fletcher, Investing in Civil Society: A framework for a bespoke regulatory regime, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
Links: Report | BWB press release | SEC press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A report by an all-party group of MPs said that employee-led mutuals could positively transform public services – as long as they were not driven by economic motives. Employee-led ownership needed stronger support and communication from central government if it were to build on its initial success.
Source: Sharing Ownership: The role of employee ownership in public service delivery, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Employee Ownership
Links: Report | EOA press release | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Jun
A trade union report said that there was little evidence that the coalition government's programme for encouraging mutuals to deliver public services was anything other than a cynical exercise in cuts: but that did not mean either that there was no role for mutuals, or that many of the characteristics associated with mutualism did not have an important part to play in public service provision.
Source: Mutual Benefit? Should mutuals, co-operatives and social enterprises deliver public services?, Unison
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
An audit report highlighted the risks to value for money associated with the coalition government's programme aimed at enabling staff to set up health social enterprises outside the National Health Service. The Department of Health had not set measurable objectives against which to evaluate the programme's success. Primary care trusts expected social enterprises to deliver more benefits than other providers: but they did not generally contract for them to deliver savings or any other additional benefits.
Source: Establishing Social Enterprises Under the Right to Request Programme, HC 1088 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | Community Care report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report examined the growth of public service co-operatives in Spain, Italy, and Sweden, and drew lessons for policy-makers in the United Kingdom. The UK was comparatively ill-equipped for the process of turning public services into mutual organizations.
Source: Jonathan Bland, Time to Get Serious: International lessons for developing public service mutuals, Co-operatives UK
Links: Report | Co-operatives UK press release | Community Care report
Date: 2011-May
A study examined the demand from social finance intermediaries to supply capital to charities, social enterprises, and businesses with a social purpose – and therefore the mix of financing that the proposed 'Big Society Bank' would need to support.
Source: Iona Joy, Lucy de Las Casas, and Benedict Rickey, Understanding the Demand for and Supply of Social Finance, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
Links: Report | NESTA press release
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined social and sustainable banking – banking that had a positive social and ecological impact at its heart, as well as its own economic sustainability.
Source: Olaf Weber and Sven Remer (eds.), Social Banks and the Future of Sustainable Finance, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A study examined how the 'mass affluent' (defined as individuals with investment assets between £50,000 and £1 million) might respond to social investment products.
Source: Antony Elliott, Investing for the Good of Society: Why and how wealthy individuals respond, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
Links: Report | NESTA press release
Date: 2011-Apr
A report said that better use of social enterprise in Wales could drive growth and jobs, as well as delivering improved public services in health, housing, education, and social care.
Source: Kevin Morgan and Adam Price, The Collective Entrepreneur: Social enterprise and the smart state, Community Housing Cymru/Charity Bank
Links: Report | CHC press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined gender differences in leadership, participation, and employment in the third sector and social enterprises. Women were underrepresented as leaders of private sector social enterprises: but they were more equally represented leading or initiating third sector organizations. Within third sector organizations, more women than men undertook paid work, held lower managerial and professional positions, and volunteered: but men took up around one-half of higher-status positions. The gender pay gap was narrower in the third sector than in other sectors, and was lowest for those in the highest managerial positions.
Source: Simon Teasdale, Stephen McKay, Jenny Phillimore, and Nina Teasdale, 'Exploring gender and social entrepreneurship: women's leadership, employment and participation in the third sector and social enterprises', Voluntary Sector Review, Volume 2 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
A think-tank report said that co-operative and mutual organizations should be used to help the rehabilitation of offenders – allowing offenders, ex-offenders, professional staff, and community members to work in partnership, providing employment, promoting rehabilitation, and supplying comprehensive after-care services.
Source: Dave Nicholson, Cooperating out of Crime, CentreForum
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
A study examined the opportunities for co-operatives and mutuals as service providers under personal budgets in social care and health. The market for personalized services was found to be underdeveloped: but co-operatives were not well understood by gatekeepers to social care and health services.
Source: Jenny Fisher, Mary Rayner, and Sue Baines, Personalisation of Social Care and Health: A Co-operative Solution, Co-operatives UK/Manchester Metropolitan University
Links: Report | MMU press release
Date: 2011-Feb
A report examined the state of 'social venture intermediaries' – the institutions that supported the emerging sector of social ventures. It made recommendations designed to ensure stronger support and markets for social ventures.
Source: Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Jack Graham, Simon Tucker, and Geoff Mulgan, Growing Social Ventures: The role of intermediaries and investors: who they are, what they do, and what they could become, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
Links: Report | Young Foundation press release
Date: 2011-Feb
The government published a strategy for achieving a thriving social investment market – with a key role for the 'Big Society Bank' as a wholesale investor and champion of the market.
Source: Growing the Social Investment Market: A vision and strategy, Cabinet Office
Links: Strategy | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | SIB press release
Date: 2011-Feb
A report called on the government to clarify the role that business would play in the 'Big Society'. Social enterprise provided a better alternative to grant-aiding third sector organizations, because it contributed to national income while simultaneously tackling social and environmental problems.
Source: Time for Social Enterprise, Social Enterprise Coalition
Links: Report | SEC press release | Charity Times report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Feb
A report said that a range of external obstacles were stopping some social enterprises from branching out into different sectors and geographical areas through franchising and partnership working. It recommended that grant providers and mainstream investors be educated about the benefits of social 'replication'.
Source: Lidija Mavra, Growing Social Enterprise: Research into social replication, Social Enterprise Coalition
Links: Report | SEC press release | Charity Times report
Date: 2011-Jan
A report examined social innovation in the European Union – defined as new ideas (products, services, and models) that simultaneously met social needs more effectively than alternatives and created new social relationships or collaborations. They were innovations that were not only good for society but also enhanced society's capacity to act.
Source: Agnes Hubert, Empowering People, Driving Change: Social innovation in the European Union, Bureau of European Policy Advisers (European Commission)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jan
A report highlighted examples of 'social innovation' initiatives across Europe – initiatives designed to stimulate a more dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable social market economy. It included a community-led commissioning project in the United Kingdom, designed to build social capital in fragmented communities and develop new solutions to health and social care problems.
Source: Louise Pulford and Filippo Addarii, This is European Social Innovation, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jan
A new textbook examined the growing popularity of social enterprise, and its relationship to the wider social context.
Source: Rory Ridley-Duff and Mike Bull, Understanding Social Enterprise: Theory and practice, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jan