Paul Schreier

An important read for how to prepare for the next crisis. FGS Global has a deep bench of exceptional advisers to assist on crisis and issues management. #crisicommunications

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This is a short, clear and balanced editorial which sets out some simple and vital decisions which our new Government must take. If they don’t listen now, the opportunities for young people to progress to advanced and then higher qualifications will be reduced or, worse still, removed! This is the generation which is more important than ever. We have an ageing population and workers. Our future employees, who will pay taxes, enable our economy to grow and improve productivity for the prosperity of UK PLC, will not have the knowledge, behaviours or skills which businesses and employers need if this is not taken seriously. Many of our senior leaders across all sectors and industries progressed through the training and qualification routes which are now being considered for removal. Future talent pipelines will be blocked if the switch-off of funding and removal of tried and trusted qualifications does go ahead. We must absolutely take this seriously.

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Important NED role here at DEFRA. They want 2 NED’s for a skill range including Cyber: “Business, Change Management, Commercial, Technology / Digital, Major Projects, Regulation, Transformation, Cyber Security” https://lnkd.in/eiM-KZyi

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Relevant perspective released today by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change on projecting what might accelerate the journey to net zero for the UK and led by the UK. Some take-away that jumped to me, as I was scanning the document, both on the 'beyond technology lens' and both aligned to 'externalities':- 1. The opportunity to align intervention and clean technology innovation 2. That of using government funding and regulatory powers strategically to create and shape the markets for clean technologies Additionally, the report makes the case for the opportunity for the UK to lead beyond its borders to help effect a global energy transition, with the impact that could result economically and for the planet. Incidentally, explicit mention of scaling SAF figures in the report, as one example, and in relation to global impact: "However, there is still much to be done [about technology] – from developing cost-effective low-carbon solutions for long-duration storage to scaling sustainable aviation fuels. The UK should set its sights on developing the next generation of climate solutions and encouraging their adoption across the world."

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Our greatest asset: The final report of the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity The nation’s health challenges have reached historic proportions, and change is needed. Led by an understanding that the boldest health reforms only come when there is a strong social and economic case for them, this commission has spent the last three years testing one simple idea: that better health is Britain’s greatest untapped route to prosperity. HOW can we turn the challenges we face in healthcare into an OPPORTUNITY that strengthens health services, improves people's health and wellbeing while boosting economic growth? World Health Innovation Summit CIC has been pioneering new models of healthcare and now is the time to invest wisely and ensure we leave no-one behind 🌍🌍🌏💡 #HealthForAll #UNGA #WHIS

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🌍 Exciting news from Scotland! . Following a comprehensive review, Scotland's National Outcomes are now before the Scottish Parliament. . While setting out an aspirational vision for Scotland's future, it’s really important to recognise they’re still couched in old economic thinking. It’s this same current economic model which has led to many global crises. It’s clear we need a transformative approach to truly realise Scotland's potential. . 💡 As Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland (WEAll) highlight, the National Outcomes set out a powerful vision for Scotland, one well worth striving for. However, despite the great words, so much more needs to be done to deliver these aspirations. They need to be translated into policies and actions, which needs rethinking our economic framework. . We need an economy that works in the service of people and planet, not the other way round. . #Scotland #Sustainability #EconomicReform #SocialImpact

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The messages in The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) new Underfunded and Overlooked report (https://lnkd.in/eKzhb9tp) really hits a nerve at SNAPS Yorkshire CIO as a medium sized charity. At SNAPS, demand for our services has never been higher. This is due to a combination of factors that include many statutory services being cut as well as other local charities having to make the difficult decision to reduce service delivery or close their doors completely. Our families simply have nowhere else to go. Alongside this, funding of small charities has reduced by £4.6 billion post pandemic, whilst costs continue to rise (the report states a 12% increase in costs for small charities). Anyone can do the maths to work out increasing demand, decreasing funds and rising costs simply isn’t sustainable. As Chair of the West Yorkshire Children’s Additional Needs Network (WYCANN), I know that these pressures are being felt by all small to medium sized third sector organisations. We know of many organisations who have had their local authority funding slashed at a time when competition for independent grants has never been higher. This leaves many of these vital community services at real risk of closure which will have a huge impact on their communities and in turn will increase the demand that our social services and NHS face. SNAPS is quoted in the report regarding this issue: “Post-pandemic especially, we have a rising number of families tell us that SNAPS is the only place they can go to for support. The need for great, local, charities has arguably never been higher, and unfortunately, it is extremely likely that more will have to close in the near future due to rising pressures and funding challenges.” Grassroots groups and charities are the organisations who REALLY understand what is needed by their communities and are fleet of foot enough to meet that need quickly and effectively. We see that at SNAPS every day, with our families continually telling us just how important our services are to them. In addition to the adverse effects on the third sector, this chronic underfunding and immense increase in demand is having a huge effect on the people who work in small to medium charities. Sadly, I think we will continue to see fantastic people leave the sector as the pressures of delivering these vital services with our hands tied only grow in the future. Change is urgently needed, and we hope to part of that change going forwards. Ben Robinson

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Another excellent article from @Chris Edmond. He is quite right to say that Jersey's political processes do not allow for whole system deep thinking. It is not helpful that by law a new Council of Ministers has to published its "common strategic policy". This is a very odd expression. There are policies and strategies to achieve policies but I am not sure what a strategic policy is, let alone what the word "common" adds. And I am certain that having different "common strategic policies" in 2021, 2022 and 2024 negates whatever the purpose is. Similarly, requiring an annual plan is not a sensible way to run a government. Inevitably the Government and States Assembly spend their time on narrow issues, generally in isolation, rather than on the big picture. @Leadership Jersey and @Policy Centre Jersey are making progress in bringing diverse groups together and in helping to promote better-informed policy discussion. But there is much more to do. #jersey #policy #joinedupgovernment

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The recent reversal in the long-term upward trends in university aspiration is a major strategic challenge/risk for the sector, so good to see it getting more attention. The current run of low entry / low demand for young UK students is most likely being driven by too-low funding levels from the frozen fee cap. Having a much more data-enabled sector to understand and argue for solutions to this would be helpful.

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HOW TO MOBILISE AN ORGANISATION INTO ALIGNED ACTION - This short piece in Financial Times today highlights a critical aspect of what is required to turn around an organisation’s direction of travel. Tufan Erginbilgic at Rolls-Royce is used as a great example of a CEO that has demonstrated what is possible to achieve in a relatively short space of time when a CEO is effectively in action. However, the article also points out that for a turn-around to be sustainable, it comes down to a leader’s interpersonal skills. The critical factor in any turn-around is how to effectively get people to act consistently with a new shared reference point that breaks the patterns that governed past (under-)performance. In large organisations it is a fallacy to think one can rely on ’telling people what is now needed and what now to do’. The resource demanded to ensure compliance would kill the agility and speed needed for any effective turn-around. The only viable option is to address what governs what people choose to do and what people choose not to do. The first criteria is that people need to see the new future as possible. This requires a leader to authentically listen to what currently shapes what people think can happen and what they think cannot happen. Only when people get that their views on ‘how things are here’ are being listened to, does the leader have a genuine chance of expanding this and generate a new possibility that people are able to believe in. Secondly, people need an opportunity to find themselves inside this new future in a way that connects to something that they are interested in, something that is important enough to them to be willing to reconsider what actions they now take going forward. Breaking with past patterns, especially those that have become ’social norms’ in the workplace, are hard. Unless a leader gives people an opportunity to co-create their own futures inside the big vision for the company, any initial enthusiasm for the new possibility is likely to wear off as soon as things get tricky and calls for grit and determination to keep going. With the above two critical steps in place, a leader has created a base from which there is a much higher chance that people will be self-generating new actions that are consistent with fulfilling on the turn-around objectives. It then becomes a matter of listening and adjusting the context people operate inside of, instead of the often exhausting game of having to figure out what everyone ’needs to do’ all the time. https://lnkd.in/eyFdeQJZ #leadership #turnaround #firsthuman

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The Minister for Pensions has issued a written statement to Parliament, confirming the Government’s support for delivering pensions dashboards. The Minister has also clarified that the state-provided MoneyHelper pensions dashboard will be made available to the public before commercial dashboards become operational, while re-stating the commitment to commercial dashboards. This will ensure a dashboard is available as early as possible, as well as greater opportunities for user testing and obtaining insights into user behaviour. It will also help engender greater confidence in operational delivery, security, and consumer protection before facilitating the connection of commercial dashboards. Dashboards will transform how people view their retirement savings, and will help pension providers and schemes’ engagement with more informed customers and members. This statement demonstrates the Government’s confidence in dashboards as a tool to help provide better pensions outcomes. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/e7zBd7iH

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Some food for thought. Dave Smith's talk is obviously focused on the UK but so much of this applies to Canada too. Point 1 on short term vs long term makes me think of the good line from Alex Usher and Higher Education Strategy Associates in their analysis of the recent budget: "it seems like a continuation of a pattern under the Liberals: lots of good little one-and-done policies, but extreme difficulty in maintaining a sustained effort on the files that matter." On fragmentation, that definitely applies. Just at the federal level the budget highlighted the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the National Quantum Strategy, the Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy, and the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy. How these fit together along with other smaller and one-off initiatives into the 'big picture' of Canada's direction on science, technology, and innovation I don't know. This is without even get into the fragmentation inherent in Canadian federalism - something I am immensely interested in when it comes to the reality of how innovation policies actually impact the economy. The provinces are both hugely influential here, and also for the most part, rather absent when it comes to a strategic focus on this space, with the notable exception of Quebec. As for compelling narratives, we are lacking here too. When it comes to the question of "are we good enough at explaining the real value of investments in science and technology on making all our lives better?" we haven't done a good enough job - both from the government and from the innovation 'sector' at large. Again, Alex Usher often says how the PSE sector needs to tell better stories about their value and how investment in them leads to tangible outcomes on people's lives. For me, this is, in part, where industrial strategy comes in. Part of the value there is not just the policy levers you are using, but how you are pulling them together into a coherent whole that pulls in the same direction, enabling you to tell a stronger story about the direction you are trying to move in. Packaging things that way facilitates storytelling, helping connect the dots both in people's minds as well as between the actual policies deployed.

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In June 2024, The Economist reflected on Labour’s economic strategy, stating: “All hope of repairing Britain’s crumbling public services is pinned on faster growth…Britain is likely to grow faster than in the recent past, but it will not grow fast enough to spare the next government a big fiscal shortfall or having to raise taxes”. The newspaper also commented: “Voters have little appetite for spending cuts to frayed public services. Revving up growth, which delivers the tax revenues to fund public services, is the only way to square the circle”. Not necessarily. In respect of health and social care, and by introducing a blended funding model (i.e. taxation, plus a voluntary, incentivised ‘top up’, as variously operated in other countries with better funded, better resourced services), we can generate a higher level of funding that doesn’t involve raising taxes – a much-needed solution given the scale of the country’s financial challenges. Generating long-term, ring-fenced additional funding, enabling the NHS to remain free at the point of use, and establish a publicly owned, not-for-profit National Care Service, to finally ‘fix’ social care, is more than possible. To find out more about HEALTH FUND, a publicly owned, not-for-profit health top-up, please visit https://lnkd.in/e9dmXskn #ukhealthandcarefundingsolved #healthmutual #uksocialcarefundingfixed

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Looking forward to today's SAPIENS Network final conference and to seeing where those early career researchers are getting at with their projects. I will be presenting some ideas in the 'Industry 4.0' panel, stressing the need to develop effective B2G 'data integration' mechanisms for procurement. This would be particularly important to reduce the red tape associated with some stages of tendering (such as qualitative selection) and to improve monitoring of contract performance -- as someone put it in the Global Revolution conference, to allow contracting authorities to 'send their AI into tenderers' data spaces to automate and significantly improve data-based decision-making. In my presentation, I will show that we are a few steps behind and considerations must be operationalised under the growing thicket of EU non-personal data law. As always, comments most welcome!

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I spoke with Gwyn Topham for his piece in the The Guardian yesterday overviewing the new state of play in airport expansion. And (sorry) I said my favourite stat again: "the statistics show that there has been no net increase in business travel since 2006, when capacity has grown dramatically. All the growth has come from the leisure market. That poses serious questions for those who argue airports deliver growth. It’s not clear that residents flying overseas for holidays is of any economic benefit to the UK." The piece was timely, coming a few days after VisitBritain published new data on trends in overnight domestic tourism showing domestic spending down 9% in real terms between 2022 and 2023. Proponents of airport expansion must justify how it is 'good' for the economy for us to send another 17 million UK tourists overseas every year. https://lnkd.in/eqxGHeUY

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Exporting research - it is so important to understand the Market and category background, as well as the approaches that work. There is much available and a variety of support options. i share this link as it may assist a general drive for economic growth. https://lnkd.in/eaM74As4

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Social Outcomes Contracts support highly vulnerable people with complex overlapping needs - a fact recognised by Gordon Brown, in his foreword to our report on how social investment can drive better public services. Our report is based on new independent research showing that Social Outcomes Contracts have delivered £1.9b of public value in the UK, or £9 of value for every £1 spent by government. Greater government commitment to outcomes-based commissioning will lead to #OutcomesForAll - especially the most vulnerable in our society.

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