The UK education system being a tad on the fetid side of messy but albeit wondrous compared to various US cities’ public systems, I happen to feel future generations need all the help they can get and hence we need to be open to new ideas and solutions. To which end, a cry for more innovative funding is a great idea while “Left Foot Forward” a UK socialist site is leading thought for UK Labour Party members who often struggle to see beyond the canard of ‘taxing the rich until the pips squeak:’ there needs to be a serious reassessment of how we fund everything as the status quo won’t do. Even before we reach another gush about Sir Ronald Cohen and impact investing, this is a bumper day for SIB News – happy reading!
There Aren’t Enough Academy Sponsors For ‘Coasting Schools’ – So Why Not Let For-Profit Providers Try?
Schools Week
A shortage of high quality academy sponsors and an inefficient brokering system threaten successful delivery of government’s plans for improvement of coasting schools.
A considerable number of interested and internationally-proven providers have been put off to date by the prohibitive conditions imposed by central government. These providers have expertise in school improvement far exceeding that of many sponsors already engaged in managing schools. They include for-profit service providers, of which the education secretary remains politically uneasy. These should be re-engaged on an open-tender basis.
There are a number of advantages to this approach. A pilot of an open-tendered framework, allowing an element of price competition, would encourage realistic market-based appraisal of the costs of effecting the base level of improvement ministers expect, while at the same time providing an opportunity for innovation in performance measurement to incentivise high aspirations. This might be caste along the lines of a social impact bond, which model has proven successful in other public service markets.
How The Finance Sector Can Help Build A Better Society
Left Foot Forward
Social impact investment provides a great opportunity to change society for the better by combining financial sustainability and investment returns with explicit positive social outcomes
In recent years, the coalition government has been leading the way in the development of responsible investment solutions and social investment with the launch of Big Society Capital in April 2012.
More recently in the chancellor’s budget, the Cabinet Office announced the launch of seven new social impact bonds with a focus on children in care, disadvantaged young people and those with long-term mental illnesses.
Alongside the focus on social impact bonds, the government has also announced the creation of the AccessFoundation. Described as a sister organisation to Big Society Capital, the charity has been given £100m of funding to support capacity building initiatives to help charities and social enterprises to access social investment.
UK Impact Investment Pioneer Sir Ronald Cohen Looks To America
Institutional Investor