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- Author or Editor: James Rees x
- Third Sector Research x
This important book is the first edited collection to provide an up to date and comprehensive overview of the third sector’s role in public service delivery. Exploring areas such as social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value, the authors provide a platform for academic and policy debates on the topic. Drawing on research carried out at the ESRC funded Third Sector Research Centre, the book charts the historical development of the state-third sector relationship, and reviews the major debates and controversies accompanying recent shifts in that relationship. It is a valuable resource for social science academics and postgraduate students as well as policymakers and practitioners in the public and third sectors in fields such as criminal justice, health, housing and social care.
The introduction sets out the themes of the book, in particular the recent historical and policy context in the UK. It sets out the book’s overall aim of providing a concise and up-to-date overview of the third sector’s role in England’s public services. It provides a detailed definition of the third sector, introducing some of the main theories of the voluntary sector. It goes on to outline the key policy context, particularly the important New Labour partnership era. It also scrutinizes the important state-sector relationship at the heart of public service delivery. Finally, it highlights the contents of the book.
This chapter focuses in greater detail on the crucial New Labour and Coalition government periods; comparing and contrasting the policy and practice of the two periods. It has two broad aims: to provide a historical overview of policy, practice and academic debates that have surrounded the often controversial role of the third sector in public service delivery; and to tease out underlying continuities and points of difference in the stances of these governments towards the sector. The analysis is framed by the welfare triangle developed by Adalbert Evers, with a consequent focus on the interfaces with the state, market and informal sectors. Whilst shifts in discourse and practice are detected, the chapter identifies an underlying continuation of trajectories initiated in the 1980s including movement towards market-based forms of provision, the reduction of the scale of the welfare state, and aspirations to harness the perceived positive contribution of the third sector.
The conclusion draws together the themes and questions of the book, highlighting the enduring nature of the tensions implicit in the service delivery relationship. It provides a review of where the third sector currently sits in the contemporary landscape of public service delivery, focuses on the dilemmas and tensions that service delivery brings to participating organisations, and highlights the key role of innovation and the search for new models of delivery that the third sector has taken part in. Finally it reviews the prospects for the third sector’s future role in service delivery, balancing reasons to be pessimistic and optimistic.
This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the third (or voluntary) sector role in the delivery of public services in the UK. It covers social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value; as well as the sector’s role in specific fields including employment, health and social care, housing and criminal justice. It is the first book to review developments over the New Labour and Coalition period which saw a sustained expansion of the scale and scope of third sector delivery. In this period, the sector was required to respond to new policy challenges such as personalisation, market-based mechanisms of funding allocation and regulation, and an increased focus on rewarding outcomes (payment by results). Drawing on research at the ESRC-funded Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, the book also makes an analytical contribution in charting historical shifts in state, third sector, and market relationships, with a focus on the controversies associated with such shifts.
This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the third (or voluntary) sector role in the delivery of public services in the UK. It covers social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value; as well as the sector’s role in specific fields including employment, health and social care, housing and criminal justice. It is the first book to review developments over the New Labour and Coalition period which saw a sustained expansion of the scale and scope of third sector delivery. In this period, the sector was required to respond to new policy challenges such as personalisation, market-based mechanisms of funding allocation and regulation, and an increased focus on rewarding outcomes (payment by results). Drawing on research at the ESRC-funded Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, the book also makes an analytical contribution in charting historical shifts in state, third sector, and market relationships, with a focus on the controversies associated with such shifts.
This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the third (or voluntary) sector role in the delivery of public services in the UK. It covers social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value; as well as the sector’s role in specific fields including employment, health and social care, housing and criminal justice. It is the first book to review developments over the New Labour and Coalition period which saw a sustained expansion of the scale and scope of third sector delivery. In this period, the sector was required to respond to new policy challenges such as personalisation, market-based mechanisms of funding allocation and regulation, and an increased focus on rewarding outcomes (payment by results). Drawing on research at the ESRC-funded Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, the book also makes an analytical contribution in charting historical shifts in state, third sector, and market relationships, with a focus on the controversies associated with such shifts.
The third sector has a long history of delivering employment services alongside statutory and private sector providers, but the landscape of provision has changed with the introduction of prime-led supply chain contracting and payment by results. This chapter draws on data from a qualitative study of the Work Programme and findings from an evaluation of Work Choice, the two main programmes operating in the field to explore how third sector providers have responded to these changes. It highlights the varied strategies TSOs have employed to navigate reputational and financial risk, and to then re-orientate services to secure a position in the evolving field. The chapter underlines the diversity of providers within the field and challenges a normative approach to understanding third sector experiences in these forms of public service delivery.
