The White Paper and the Workforce!

Went to a session on the impact of the White Paper on the workforce at UNISON towers in London today. The meeting is with the local government team and along with APSE, the local government information unit and the new local government network are represented.

We start off by doing a round the table and each organisation presents its opening statement with everyone finding something positive to say, although I express a healthy dose of cynicism about some of the hidden messages and how they could be interpreted or implemented. This appears to be well received by most.

Dick Sorabji of NLGN has an intellect that I respect greatly although I can't help but feel the organisations his employers represent have vastly different commercial interests in the future shape of local government to UNISONs membership. I often wonder why an organisation such as NLGN, with obviously huge commercial investment behind it, doesn't produce some tangible research that proves that the private sector actually improve service performance when services are outsourced, rather than relying on anecdotal conversation pieces.

I guess that's just the cynic in me emerging again, I must be a dinosaur by wanting to see hard tangible evidence before making my mind up about something.