Housing: creative solutions

Whatever sector, whatever industry you are in, these are challenging times. It is all hands to the pump to find the right course. And for those fearing their very survival, it is understandable that the search for that new, powerful idea should dominate. But success will never lie in new technology alone; it is also critical to look in the right direction, not to get waylaid into seemingly seductive solutions. Look at the business and be honest, are a series of technological innovations likely? And if they are, will they make the impact on your industry that you anticipate? For service organisations in particular, constant technomania is probably an absolute distraction from the core business. Worse, it will beguile you into believing there is a promised land; that there is a magic bullet that will solve the organisation’s problems. The techno-fetishists earn their crust by promoting ever whackier and unachievable ideas. New jobs are being created, innovation labs are springing up. Cha

  We are preparing our new corporate plan. With the end of the next Parliament likely to be in 2020, what is going to be different? What will have changed irrevocably; fundamental shifts that will transform how we view our world. With the Chancellor announcing that another £25bn of cuts is needed in the first two years after the election, there are four key trends that are evident.  Public services are being dismembered. Assets are being transferred into the private sector rapidly and that is likely to be accelerated after the next election. At the end of 2013, 3,670 schools had become Academy schools. There are no national figures available, but the Local Authority accounts in the county where we work show that school buildings to the value of £40m have been transferred so far. In 2014, 56% of English secondary schools were academies. Primary schools, 11% and growing. In January 2014, it was estimated that 70% of contracts being awarded by the NHS were going to private companies.  As