Noticeboard TouchsTone award deadline looms Sponsored feature Capita Size isnt everything Flexibility and resilience are the future, says Andy Foster O you say ne of the recurring debates that has rumbled through the regulatory professions for as long as I can remember is the question of size more specifically, what is the minimum size that a regulatory service needs to be to function? The fact that the query has never been answered is a source of much frustration for government officials and politicians, but such inconclusiveness is not without good reason. Rather than transactional services such as contact centres, revenues and benefits, where the resources required to process the demand of its users can be predicted with reasonable certainty regulatory services use a combination of preventative and reactive interventions to drive outcomes. So the response to the question of size should be met with another question: how ambitious do we want to be? The problem is that, whatever the size of the service, austerity cuts have often left very little resource for the basics, let alone contingencies, such as unexpected incidents, emergencies or complex investigations. This can often leave councils and their customers exposed. Some colleagues realise that individual councils dont have to deliver everything themselves and, as a result, commissioning becomes a more comfortable term. This is bringing with it a new range of efficiencies that will form part of the answer. Partnerships in regulatory services such as our own with North Tyneside Council and the London Borough of Barnet do not operate in isolation from each other. Quite theopposite: they are forming a network that can mobilise resource where it needs to be at any particular time. This allows future partners to commission individual activities or just call upon the network at timesof unexpected demand, rather than absorb the cost of employinghighly skilled officers on a permanent or temporary basis. Turning the resource flow on and off like this keeps the service as efficient as possible. As the sector matures, commissioning is likely to become more sophisticated and outcome-based rather than activity-based. Outcomes include increased survival rates of small and medium-size enterprises in the borough, reduced availability of illicit tobacco and a reduced number of older people going into residential care, to name just a few. Such cross-sector, outcome-based approaches will transfer risk to the provider and force cross-agency collaboration in a way that has not been seen before. This, in turn, will stimulate investment and innovation for the benefit of not just local government, but for the citizens and businesses we all serve. So, services of the future will perhaps operate with smaller core teams of varying size teams made up of expert regulatory commissioners, as well as practitioners, who know which interventions will produce the desired outcomes and make better use of our collective national workforce. Smaller they may be, but regulatory services that are able to flex in this way will lose nothing in terms of resilience and capability. Size isnt everything? I was interested to read the Sponsored feature on page 19 of TSToday, headed: Size isnt everything: flexibility and resilience are the future, says Andy Foster. As a stated Capita director, Andy Foster isnot making an impartial assessment. While he highlights the benefits of these network systems, quoting Tyneside and The London Borough of Barnet as beneficiaries, there is another side to outsourcing. In the interests of balance your readers may be interested to note the following article: Outsourced and unaccountable: this is the future of local government the gutting of Barnet council means even births, deaths and marriages are managed elsewhere. Your town hall may be next, was an article by Aditya Chakrabortty that appeared in The Guardian on Monday 15 December, 2014. While I leave readers free to read the article themselves, and form their own opinions,I offer these two extracts from it: For those who live and work in Barnet, their local affairs are now handled remotely by people hundreds of miles away, who know nothing about them or the area. Payroll for what remains of council staff is done in Belfast, while for schools its Carlisle. Pension queries go to Darlington. Benefits end up in Blackburn. Parking notices come from Croydon. Calls to the local library are first directed to Coventry. Even births, deaths and marriages are managed in Brent.(I assume this is theCapita networkingto which AndyFoster refers.) And: Dexter Whitfield, an economist, points to Sefton, in Merseyside, which launched an outsourcing deal with Capita in 2008. It was meant to deliver 70m savings and 100 new jobs. When neither unicorn materialised, the contract was transferred back to the council last year. While I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of these comments, perhaps members from those authorities may be able to shed some light on the subject for or against. Perhaps, in election year, this may count as political comment and not be allowed although Capita has been able to give its view. graham dodd, Tsi member Credits Published Andy Foster is a director at Capita. Tuesday 27 January, 2015 Trading standards officers only have one more month to submit their entries to the British Hallmarking Council to be in with a chance of winning the Touchstone Award. The gong rewards the best initiative in enforcing hallmarking by a trading standards service. Those wishing to see their hard work considered as a contender for the prize can obtain an application form from Alison Byne at alison.byne@assayofficelondon.co.uk or by calling 020 7606 8971. The winner will be announced at TSIs Conference and Exhibition in July. The closing date for applications is 24 April 2015. To help encourage readers to take part, TS Today has received a poem about the history of hallmarking. a sTerling fellow, a Tso A sterling fellow is the modern TSO, And in hallmarking expertise can show. Understanding the date-letter you will see unrivalled is his knowledge of its history. The knowledge of the hallmark he acquires as to defeat the fraudsters he conspires. Studying legislation, he masters each fact, to enforce with vigour the Hallmarking Act. To share this page, click on in the toolbar (Andrew.foster2@capita.co.uk) Images: Rawpixel / Shutterstock If this poem you use as an aide-memoire, all the milestones within it contained are. The beat of history is calling, listen, hark! Leopard, Castle, Anchor, Rose hallmark. Emerging from dawn and mists of time across the wide earth in every clime, The precious molten metal silver flows from Southern Cross to Artic snows. Circa 700 BC Circa 30 BC The Sweat of the Sun, gold portrayed. The Tears of the Moon by silver made. Yet mans quest for gold ever illusive, since his alchemy proved inconclusive. Circa 590 Circa 770 Coins to calculate the march of trade, Silver penny first by thelbert made In King Offas rule, as in later reigns, its weight twenty two and half grains. Circa 1250 Easterling at first the name laid down from Lubeck, a German Hanse town. Then bearing many a monarchs name, world famous Sterling silver it became. 1248 1300 1544 PS: What is a sponsored article? Who pays who? Or does it just mean advert? 1489 Editors note: Sponsored feature is a way of differentiating this from other content, as Capita paid a fee for this article to appear. When Homer of Greece his epic told he wove the thread, silver and gold. And Cleopatras oars of silver hue kissed the Niles jewel of sapphire blue. 1697 1742 1763 1773 1840 When Henry the Third his goldsmiths met, the Trial of the Pyx the standards set. A standard all vicissitudes to endure, Sterling, nine two five parts of silver pure. The leopards head then on silver found. Next the Lion passant, at first crowned. Protection upon which man did embark, known for centuries now as the hallmark. Henry VII then at de Bruchsaal hinted that a pound coin of the realm be minted. So the first sovereign came off the press designed by a German with inventiveness. The Lions head Erased then later shown Britannia Silver, nine five eight, now known. A standard designed in order to prevent the melting of coins and much discontent. In forty two, or there about, they state Boulsover discovered Old Sheffield Plate. Yet it was Hancock who the potential saw and as Master Cutler achieved much more. Matthew Boulton then, silversmith of fame, submitted a petition which enhanced his name. The legislative Plate Act of seventy three. Sheffield Assay Office, famous its letter E. As the Workshop of the World progressed British industry her processes re-assessed. When Mr Wright, a student, discovered more and electro-plating then came to the fore. 1849 Contagious gold fever took its human toll as across the mighty continents it did roll. Men lived and died, their gold dust to hoard. Buying and selling, always, subject to fraud. 1877 Pocket scales and balances carried then to regulate the transactions of wary men. And was it silver, gold or a fools alloy? Treasure weighed in precious ounces Troy. 1897 The Stannary Courts then they came to pass, twice a year, at Midsummer and Michaelmas. Assay Master and Weigher both there to see the Kings Beam ascertaining the accuracy. Sterling a word now so world-renowned. A quaint English expression frequently found. Thats Sterling work is the colloquial term. Historys benchmark, a standard to affirm. The Lion passant and Royal Tudor Rose Symbols that Consumer Protection knows. Through centuries it has been clear to see The British hallmark confirms true quality. Anon