Mark Lovell, Chris Grayling

You may have heard of the Fabian Society. It dates back to 1884 and has always been about advancing democratic socialism. So what's that got to do with A4e? No idea, but they've sponsored an event for the Young Fabians on "Thinkers and Doers", along with Chukka Umunna, the Labour MP. Mark Lovell, who was there, has also been writing on finding work and on his current hobby-horse, banking for the poor. What he says is sensible, but we know that the sub-text is his desire for an A4e bank.

There's been a drip-drip of publicity about the Work Programme in general. Chris Grayling had to answer questions in Parliament on Monday and conformed that, "The Department expects to release statistics on referrals to the Work programme from spring 2012, and on job outcomes lasting three or six months from autumn 2012." So we won't get to know anything about outcomes for more than a year. Meanwhile, some news about another of the providers, Avanta. The Northern Echo carries a story about an induction day with the company on Teesside. The complainant is a graduate and distinctly unimpressed. Her story will be familiar to jobseekers who've had dealings with other providers. The Work Programme is being touted as individually designed provision, but this kind of one-size-fits-all induction is a way of swiftly refuting that.