Inspirational

The CBI's Annual Conference recently held a panel debate with the title "Good for Britain, good for business, good for growth". A4e's Emma Harrison was on the panel. Two other members are also bosses of outsourcing companies (Circle Health and Apetito, which provides catering services to hospitals). So you can see why the word "good" was being stressed. The Yorkshire Post described Harrison as "chairman of Sheffield social purpose firm A4e, which gets people into work", and reports that "Ms Harrison urged firms to 'do well by doing good'." This is a familiar mantra of Harrison. It doesn't seem to have been her only contribution. Michael Gillick, boss of a company called Paritas Ltd, tweeted to her, "A colleague said your speech at the CBI conference was inspirational. Is it published anywhere?" Emma replied that they were filming so it could be on the CBI's website.

BBC cameras were in the Liverpool A4e office for a news item about the Work Programme shown on 7 November. A4e say that the two young people filmed are being followed by the reporter, Mark Easton. So can we expect that all the stops will be pulled out to get these two into jobs? I hope so, for their sakes. Meanwhile, another contract enables A4e to say that it is "assisting in helping service heroes start their own business". This involves money from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills awarded to the Royal British Legion to help service leavers start their own businesses. The RBL have naturally sub-contracted this to firms like A4e.

"Joined Up Moving Up"

A4e's news page reports: "The Welfare to Work Panel’s report 'Joined Up Moving Up' was launched today at a well attended and successful event in Central Westminster Hall. The Welfare to Work Panel’s report 'Joined Up Moving Up' was launched today at a well attended and successful event in Central Westminster Hall. Employment Minister Jim Knight spoke alongside panel chair Keith Faulkner from Working Links, Rob Murdoch from A4e, Chris Ledgard from Collinson Grant and CBI Director of Public Services Susan Anderson."

This panel was formed by the CBI, so you would expect that it would lean towards private business interests. Its Chair, Keith Faulkner, is also Chairman of Working Links (Employment) Ltd, one of A4e's competitors. Selections from the contributions at the launch can be watched here. A4e's Rob Murdoch talks about independent providers bringing "fantastic innovation", a personalised service and reduced expenditure on benefits. We need to capture that innovation, and develop more dynamic services to get people into work. The role of prime contractors is to ensure that all the services in an area are meeting the needs of the customer. The "supply chain" must be healthy and thriving to provide the best services. There was also a heavy hint about A4e's ambition to provide a more holistic service, one which can have an input into many aspects of the life of an individual or family - the super-contracts which they advocated to the DWP. Murdoch said that welfare reform cuts across all departments because it impacts on all fronts. Customers have a multitude of barriers, and they want to work with customers on all barriers to provide a more coherent service.