A4e and the PADA

Ever heard of the PADA? I hadn't. It's the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority, a body set up by the DWP to "set up a national, trust-based pension scheme called ‘personal accounts’ that will help millions of people on low and moderate incomes, who do not have access to a good-quality workplace pension, save for their retirement." What better way to get this worthy organisation off the ground than to give out £3m worth of contracts to the private sector? According to a news information system, "A4E Ltd., Sheffield, United Kingdom, won a 3 million GBP multiple awardees contract award from Personal AccountsDelivery Authority to provide social, economic and market research services. (Official EU Ref. No 305010-2009)." If you're wondering what a "multiple awardees contract" is, so did I. But according to the PublicTenders.net site, there are 35 companies, many of them recognised research companies like Yougov, which have a slice of that £3m contract. Still, 1/35th of £3m is nearly £86,000.

"Our Shared Promise on Customer Care"

It's headlined "A shared promise to those participating in welfare-to-work programmes" and can be read on the Jobcentre Plus website. It "was developed by ERSA, the representative body for independent providers of publicly funded welfare-to-work programmes and is supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, including Jobcentre Plus, the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE)" and was launched by Jim Knight MP. All the providers, including A4e, have signed up to it. "It includes commitments from providers to:

• Listen to customers and provide support based on each customer’s circumstances and needs
• Help customers identify and make the most of their strengths
• Make the best use of the customer’s time, taking account of personal circumstances and by being clear when things need to happen"

and there are equally unexceptionable commitments required from customers. Nothing wrong with that. But I can't help wondering why the providers need to state this, when one would assume that it was required in their contracts.

Must try harder

For reasons best known to themselves, A4e have a blog called A4elivenews on a free blogsite. Whoever is responsible for it should bear in mind that a company with interests in education and training needs to avoid basic grammatical errors such as "Whose getting bored of TV?" (should be "who's", of course, and "bored of" is dubious) and "The media of late has been quick to voice parental concerns" ("media" is plural, so the verb should be "have", not "has").

And there's an interesting post on Realbusiness.co.uk from Jan Cavelle, who runs a furniture company. Jan went to the Enterprising Women Awards and heard Emma Harrison speak. "Now, Emma," she writes,"is clearly an amazing lady – a sort of cross between a female Lord Sugar and Sheffield’s answer to Mother Theresa – and no doubt the most phenomenal success story. Her talk was natural, fascinating and funny." But she was less than impressed with her speech. Emma was dismissive of people whose lack of self-confidence stops them doing something; and of those who don't have a mentor and are therefore bound to fail. Jan Cavelle concludes, "But I know that even though I am mini-league business-wise, I have – without a mentor – made a success of things in many people’s eyes, against some odds. In doing so, I provide employment for 30-odd people. I am sorry, Emma, but if I can keep progressing on working on myself and at least ensure security for them, overall I reject your tag of failure."

A4e and healthcare

A4e and healthcare - the terms don't go naturally together. But yes, A4e is involved in healthcare.

NDCs (New Deal for Communities) were set up by the government in some of the most disadvantaged parts of UK cities to provide regeneration and improvement. Large sums of money were pumped in to improve housing and, often, to build large facilties for community services. One such NDC is Aston Pride, and part of it is the Community Outreach Family Support Service. Now, search the site and you won't find any mention of A4e. But there's a document online which tells us that they "Successfully commissioned all Primary contractors for the COFSS Programme, including the Health and Regeneration Management Team awarded to A4e Ltd following an open competitive tender".

Not that A4e is reticent about it. On its own website the company tells us that "If you live in Aston, A4e can deliver healthcare to you and your family in the heart of your community". Services include "Support for pregnant women and expectant mothers" (Pregnancy, Birth and Parenthood Workshops, Ante Natal classes and ‘Meet your Midwife’ sessions) and "Wellbeing support that offers much more than healthcare…" which consists of Family cookery lessons, Welfare benefit & debt advice, and Confidential domestic violence support. And on an A4e blog site we learn of an event they're holding on 5 December which "will offer the community free help, support and information on: Immigration, Asylim [sic] claims & status, welfare, debt, pregnancy, birth, health and wellbeing to mention only a few."

Again, one is reminded of the super-contract idea, where every conceivable service is rolled into one contract.

A4e's answer to Facebook, and other oddments

An article on the website onrec.com describes A4e's launch of "The UK’s first ever social networking community to help reduce unemployment". "The site," says the article, "MyA4e Community, has been specifically designed for Flexible New Deal (FND) employees, with each having their own unique personal profile which converts into a copy of their CV and provides access to forums, messaging, available jobs plus news and events in their local area." A jobseeker from Hull describes the site as "very similar to Facebook." Now, I'm not disparaging this idea. I think it's a good use of technology, and it will be interesting to see how it works out in practice. Linking up a lot of unemployed people could have its drawbacks.

Meanwhile, an intriguing piece appeared on a Polish website (in English, I hasten to add!). A4e has welfare-to-work contracts in Poland. The piece is about using the private sector in social housing (I hate that term). One paragraph reads: "Michael Dembinski, the BPCC’s head of policy, mentioned PPP projects in the UK that linked social housing with training and resocialisation, delivered by private sector benefits-to-work companies such as Chamber members Reed in Partnership, Working Link [sic] or A4E. He described one such project in Glasgow, run by Reed in Partnership, where participation in a 20-week course leading to vocational qualifications in the construction sector was linked to the provision of social housing." Alarm bells started ringing. Does it mean that your tenancy is linked to undergoing training by private providers? Apparently not. The only link I can find is on a presentation by Reed in Partnership, delivered in March this year, which says "DCLG and DWP are working more closely together on the housing and worklessness agenda. Nine Flexible New Deal Phase 1 proposals with partnership working with housing associations as a key focus across all." I can't find any suggestions of taking this further. Maybe Reed and others have been over-egging things slightly. But it does remind one of A4e's ambition to have super-contracts from local authorities which would encompass most of the public services accessed by the disadvantaged. While neither Labour nor the Conservatives have indicated any appetite for this, it could well be that some cash-strapped authorities (especially after the May election) could find it attractive.

The Emma Harrison Story

The business world likes big, colourful personalities like Sir Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar and Sir James Dyson. Some entrepreneurs achieve huge status because of their ethical stance; Dame Anita Roddick comes to mind. It's harder to gain that kind of reputation if your business depends on government contracts and your income is mainly from the public purse. But A4e's Emma Harrison is trying.

Back in 2005 the Independent published an article "Lord and Lady of the Dance". "Putting on a 'Strictly Come Dancing' bash for 300-odd guests is par for the course for the party-mad Harrisons, says Simon Beckett". It was "in aid of the NSPCC Full Stop Campaign, of which Emma is chair of all the regions."

Thornbridge Hall, the Harrisons' Derbyshire mansion, is featured on another website where we can read not only about the house itself but about the Thornbridge Country House Brewing Company that's part of the Harrisons' business. Jim Harrison, Emma's husband, also has a small food company, Novantia.

Lately, the Emma Harrison story is appearing more often. A year ago the BBC Local website for Sheffield and South Yorkshire published a long piece about her by Stephanie Barnard which is unashamedly sycophantic (and not very literate): "I’m sat there without an agenda, no questions. I just want to know who Emma Harrison is…" she writes. This must be the definitive version of Emma's autobiography. In September this year another rehash of it appeared on a website called Sooperarticles. Curiously, the article is way out of date. Its last paragraph reads "In addition to Make Me A Millionaire, Harrison is also chair of the NSPCC's Full Stop campaign, for which she aims to raise £1,000,000 by 2006. She is also starting a project with Anita Roddick to enable women victims of abuse to create their own small businesses." Anita Roddick died in 2007.

I'm sure that Emma is aware that there are dangers in all this.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

Yes, it's Global Entrepreneurship Week this week, and the event was launched today at the British Library One of the speakers was A4e's Emma Harrison. "Emma Harrison, chair of A4E says entrepreneurs will always find their own way through the system. She tells her own entertaining story about illegal tuck-shops, blagging her way onto a university course, and running her Dad’s firm after 18 days. Emma’s top tips for entrepreneurs having transformed her business into a £200 million turnover success. On leadership: inspire, encourage and elevate, find your passion, purpose, a mentor and do four marketing activities a day to get your business out there."