Allison's Blog

Beating the winter blues

2012-01-28T11:17:00.000Z

It might be cold out there but there is still fun to be had on the allotment. Every year I put in a perennial, this year its blueberries. I chose Blue Pearl recommended to me by fellow plot holders for its heavy cropping, and as our Katie is a blueberry fiend it seemed like a plan. I dug big holes and put ericaceous soil 12 inches below the root ball so it should be a few years before they hit soil with lime in it. Even though they are hardy, the big freeze on its way means I've fleeced them until they settle in and the worst of the weather has passed. Now all we need is a little sun, some timely rain and blueberry pie it is.

Great news for migraine sufferers

2012-01-22T10:09:00.000Z

This week I attended the spectacular launch of the National Migraine Centre, of which I have the privilege to be on the board.

The event, complete with jazz quartet, took place at the very grand Haberdashers' Hall in the City of London close to the Centre, which is in Charterhouse Square, behind St Bartholemew's Hospital. The evening celebrated not only a snazzy rebrand of the City of London Migraine Clinic, the former name for the Centre, but also to publicise new, cutting-edge services available to all migraine sufferes across the country.

Our Medical Director, Dr Giles Elrington, gave a fantastic and highly entertaining presentation on migraine to the gathered audience so even long-term sufferers like me learnt a thing or two. Did you know, for instance, that one in five people in the UK suffer from migraine? Giles outlined causes and some of the most current therapies. He talked about the research that was happening at the Centre including work with botox that can be injected into the head and is proving extremely effective.

The philosophy of the centre is that we "pride ourselves on our philosophy of care, which is based on medical excellence combined with an approach directed towards each patient’s individual needs. Our aim, to improve the lives of people with headaches and migraine, is at the core of everything we do. In turn, how we work is always based on that aim and so the person at the centre of everything that we do is you – the patient."

Giles talked about the many thousands of patients who had been successfully treated and our growing ranks of celebrity migraine suffers like Francis Rossi of Status Quo or the legendary Pam Ayres, as well as our migraine champions, prominent people who, despite suffering migraine, lead successful, productive lives.

During the evening I enjoyed meeting and talking to patients whose lives had been radically improved by coming to the Centre and were pleased to turn out to support this exciting new phase in our development.

The NMC is a social enterprise that offers world class service by conducting funded research and paid for services that connect migraine sufferers with the best available care. Led by its CEO, Heather Sim, it has become recognised for the quality of its service and innovation and I really do enjoy being part of the board, which is working to do what we can to bring these services to as many folk as possible.

I started to have migraine in my teens and they have been a feature of my life ever since, though I can't say that any treatment I got from GPs over the years was nearly as effective as that which I found at the NMC. It's a visit that can really change your life because not only do they explore treatment with you but they put a great deal of effort into helping you understand what triggers your migraines, providing you with the kind of expert analysis that makes all the difference.

Finally I dug out this Pam Ayres poem that mentions migraine, which like all her work makes a wonderful read.

Yes I'll Marry You ~ Pam Ayres

Yes, I'll marry you, my dear,
And here's the reason why;
So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry
And I hear a knocking
And it's creepy and it's late
I hand you the torch you see
And you investigate
Yes I'll marry you my dear
And you may not apprehend it
But when the tumble dryer goes
It's you that has to mend it
You have to face the neighbor
Should our roggie cat attack him
And if a drunkard fondles me
It's you that has to whack him
Yes I'll marry you
You're virile and you're lean
Your house is like a pigsty
I'll help you keep it clean
That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candle night
As I do the chappatis you can cook it every night
It's you who has to work the drill
And put up curtain track
And when I've got a migraine its you who gets the flack
I do see great advantages
But none of them for you
And so before you see the light
I do I do I do I do!

2012-01-10T09:01:00.001Z

Can 2012 deliver the world's first social enterprise square mile?

New Olympic contract wins could start a trend, says SEL's Allison Ogden-Newton

Allison Ogden-Newton
Guardian Professional, Tuesday 10 January 2012 08.00 GMT
Article history

The London Olympics could be good for social enterprises. Olympia/ Photograph: Arne Dedert/EPA

2012 starts with a bang as news breaks that social enterprise, Leisure Trust GLL, has won the landmark contract to manage the London Aquatics Centre and the Multi Use Centre (Handball Arena), whilst the development agency Renaisi, in partnership with Balfour Beatty and charity Groundwork, gets the contract to run the Olympic Park. These bids will deliver jobs and community regeneration and much more through entrepreneurialism that understands the importance of enhancing social value. There is a vision at work here and it is to make good on the promises of the legacy by supporting the most audacious community development any games has ever undertaken through the canny management of the site's assets.

That might sound like hype, but a closer look at the successful tenders show some very clever, ethically-driven plans to create jobs; giving local people a real stake in the facilities the games leave behind.

I spoke to Rob Pearce, Director at Renaisi, who told me that "We argued strongly that you will only get a great park if you create and involve successful neighbors and unless you create a specific mechanism, like a social enterprise, with that purpose in mind a park that inspires would be hard to achieve."

The community interest company "Our Parklife" that got the green light from the Olympic Park Legacy Company brings together co-curators Balfour Beatty, Renaisi and Groundwork. It will guarantee that jobs are created for local people and will ensure that a minimum of 50% of the supply chain contracts go to local small and medium-sized enterprises. It sets a clear vision for local integration and, like the GLL bid, creates a framework for a sustainable park where local communities will see real benefits.

GLL is another success story, and this latest landmark contract will mean a great deal to others in the social enterprise world given their strong social enterprise supply chain. Mark Sesnan, GLL's managing director told me they will "make a real difference", by working with other social enterprises. For example, GLL plan to work closely with transport specialists Hackney Community Transport (HCT), as well as London Recycling Network who have developed innovative recycling in East London and local social housing agencies. This will ensure that GLL's success supports other community based partners for a socially sustainable future.

HCT has been providing transport on the Olympic site for the last four years and its managing director Dai Powell told me he was delighted with today's news, adding: "When you look at the confidence public bodies and the public themselves are showing in social enterprises you realise that now is our time."

These latest contracts and other proposals, such as Business In The Communities plans to turn the 2012 Olympics Media Centre into a social enterprise business hub, all add up to the possibility of the world's first social enterprise square mile, set in London's Olympic park, post 2012.

I am sure the OPLC wants to make sure we don't get a games like Atlanta in 1996, where jobs failed to materialize, or Sydney in 2000 where the Olympic Park, set 18 miles outside the city, couldn't inspire a community to grow up around it and remains isolated and in a state of decline. Or, worse yet, Athens: where a failure to plan for any legacy missed every trick in the book with many of the facilities mothballed and jobs nowhere to be found.

It is fortunate that the 2012 games are set in the city that is acknowledged worldwide as the lead for social enterprise development. By choosing to back social enterprises based in London which innovate in regeneration, environmentalism and social impact, the OPLC has invested in a vision where a great games is just the starting gun ahead of the main event: a sustainable community where everyone is a winner.

Allison Ogden-Newton is chief executive of Social Enterprise London.

Can co-operation save the nation in 2012?

2012-01-04T14:03:00.001Z

2012 is the United Nations International Year of the Co-operatives which might not sound where the party is at, but trust me, it is. More timely even than the Olympics, this celebration comes just as the world has woken up – hungover – wearing an 'Absolute capitalism corrupts absolutely' T-shirt.

With this in mind, I have just read a stunning piece from my friend and fellow Transition Institute board member, Ed Mayo. Ed is Secretary General of Co-operatives UK and so you would expect him to defend the art of the co-operator but this article, 'Making life more meaningful', explains in lyrical tones why the nature of society is truly defined by the principles of mutual and not exclusive gain.

I am a fan of New Year’s resolutions for the same reason that I like going to church sometimes, even though I’m not even a teensy bit religious. I participate in these things because I think symbolism is essential to a thoughtful, constructive and therefore successful life. Moments of reflection and the idea that people can set the direction of their own moral compasses is an idea I try to share, especially with our children.

So, my NYR is to spend 2012 looking for and hanging on to the things that are really important, not just to me, but everyone.

2012 is going to be a year when we will be celebrating excellence in competitive sport through the spirit of the Olympics, which is founded on the philosophy of co-operation, of bringing nations together, sharing the language of sport and celebrating in one another’s successes, not just our own.

This year is also going to see some big changes for social enterprise and SEL. To ensure the year ends well for all concerned, I am going to spend 2012 asking myself the big question: what really matters here?

That is why I love Ed’s take on a meaningful life, because he asks us to think about the true nature of wealth creation: what is it for? Through co-operation, he shows us how we can generate financial profit that acts for the benefit of all, not just a few greedy buggers in their steely towers. He dispels the urban myth that competitive behaviour is the driving force of a successful society and points to the £9.4 billion created last year by employee-owned businesses and £16.1 billion from those owned by their customers. Instead Ed offers us a vision of a global village where feast is not followed by famine because those that have accept the benefit of sharing with those who do not, who in turn remember this when they are called upon for support. In Ed’s world what goes around, comes around.

That's the kind of world I want to live in too, which is why being part of co-operative social enterprise really helps me to look and look again about what really matters.

I think 2012 will see a growing numbers of wealth-creating businesses that share ownership and profit proving Gordon Gekko was wrong. Like King Lear and Fred the Shred, these figures of tragedy demonstrate that the cult of self has only one sorry end, ironic eh? So I say roll on a year of co-operating.

Looking back with pride at 2011

2011-12-22T09:41:00.000Z

Magic Breakfast working to feed London"s hungry kids wins the Big Society Award in 2011

Looking back on an extraordinary year I can hardly believe that our small organisation could have achieved so much and made such a difference! That is, of course, down to our members, networks, clients, supporters, co-chairs Mark Sesnan and Sophi Tranchell and board, all of whom enabled the fantastic SEL team to really pick up the pace for social enterprise in 2011.

The year started for us by hosting the world’s largest 2012 Olympic social enterprise conference at the London Film Museum where hundreds of delegates met to discuss and plan a successful games that will establish a worthwhile and long-lasting legacy for the wider community.

SEL also held a conference, put together by our own local government expert Mei Hui, especially for London’s local authorities with the support of London Councils. This was the 5^th LAConnects conference and the most successful yet. Bringing together representatives of all 32 boroughs and the City, we took a good hard look at their social enterprise strategies and ways in which boroughs could do more with social enterprise. This was an important conversation to have, especially in such difficult economic times because social enterprises are working with some of society's most vulnerable citizens who are always the hardest hit by economic decline.

A big breakthrough came in 2011 with another seminal partnership, this time with NESTA, the leading innovation agency, with which we worked to established the ground-breaking Transition Institute. The organisation, led by Director and policy supremo Dominic Potter and supported by the dedicated Jillian Oxenham, gained its full institute status from the government - no mean feat, because it provides a unique and vital platform for the discussion and promotion of public sector reform that maximises social value.

I am privileged to Chair the Institute, which has as its board members luminaries like Sir Stephen Bubb, Lord Micheal Bichard, Ed Mayo, Philip Colligan, Sue Bruce, Helen Bailey, Andrew Burnell, Sophia Looney, Mark Sesnan and Ben Lucas.

The Institute has attracted real media attention and as a result been contacted by an ever-growing number of public sector workers looking for information and support in the pursuit of their plans for a new approach to service delivery.

Launching its first publication in 2011, Social Value Ethos the Instutute offers strategic support to the Public Services (Social Value) Bill which, thanks to Chris White MP and Minister Nick Hurd’s tenacious campaigning, has made it to the House of Lords. We hope it gets through and is passed in 2012.

Our international work continued to be a significant part of the 2011 story with SEL consultants working in Croatia, South Korea and Copenhagen led by our chief boffin, Director of Policy and Research, Sabina Khan who has also started a series of tele-events for the Chinese government with partners, the British Council.

SEL’s work with local authorities continued to blossom and, over the year, we trained over 400 local authority officers in how they might approach becoming independent service deliverers. Building on their challenges and experiences and those of the 10 local authorities we worked through our consultancy team, we published Spin Out and Deliver from the Guardian as part of our Social Enterprise Day celebrations, which has since been downloaded from the SEL site many thousands of times.

We also continued to work with the Department of Health researching the challenges faced by health sector spin-out services through our research hub and consultancy.

Our links with the corporate world also defined 2011 in that we delivered eight oversubscribed events for social entrepreneurs sponsored by our partners KPMG and PwC. These events have become astonishingly popular and offer real evidence of the way in which the larger City-based firms have valuable expertise to offer social enterprises that our members, in turn, are delighted to benefit from.

Thanks to our Membership Team, Emma Hodson and Clare Sharpen, the SEL family has risen in number steadily all year and means that despite the battles we have fought and, I have to say, not always won for social enterprise, we are clearly doing something right. Offering programmes like ERDF Winning Contracts headed up by our own powerhouse Sue Potter, we know has really helped members. This programme saw us train over 580 social enterprises in improving their performance in securing and delivering quality public sector contracts. Independent assessment showed that our training resulted in over £4 million of new business being won by clients who specified the training they had from SEL was key to their subsequent success.

I was a judge for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the Guardian Public Sector, the Third Sector and Social Enterprise Photography awards all in 2011. These competitions might not change the world but they give us an unparalleled opportunity to make sure that social enterprises like Livity in Brixton and the Acton African Well Woman Centre get the recognition they deserve.

Our membership goes from strength to strength and is about to top 3,000, which is fantastic and makes us the largest social enterprise community in Europe. It seems that as things get tougher, social enterprises are looking for more information and support and SEL is the obvious go-to choice.

Having the design and techno wizard, Surbhi Bahl sorting out our front end has, I hope you agree, made a real difference to the impact and clarity of our message. Surbhi has made sure that the success of members like Magic Breakfast, which joined SEL members GLL and Central Surrey Health when they bagged a Big Society Award in 2011, was shared by the whole network and SEL’s now significant global audience.

Astonishingly 2011 saw SEL get our members covered in at least 43 pieces of national media and countless more sector-specific and local media sources. We also continued to do well in the world of social media with a combined (SEL, Transition Institute and aogdennewton) Twitter following of over 6,000 and consistently high Google ratings. If you search social enterprise from anywhere in the world, SEL will not be far from the top of any search engines suggested links.

But what is my highlight of 2011? It has to be the successful conclusion of our London Future 500 programme in which we got 500 young people jobs in social enterprise, 69% of whom are no longer on benefits.

Social enterprise is all about making a difference, and that certainly is making a very big difference indeed.

I wish you all the very best for the holidays and a prosperous 2012, whatever it brings SEL will be there working tirelessly and creatively for you,

All the very best

Allison

It's behind you!

2011-12-18T12:11:00.003Z

The family and I went to the pantomime last night to take in the usual excellent treatment of Cinderella, staged at our local Richmond theatre, complete with some outstandingly camp ugly sisters, an ebullient Buttons given to us by the consummate professional, Gary Wilmot, a menapausal fairy played by Jenny Eclair and dodgy prince charming who was more your choir master than dashing rake. Panto is curious, no matter how old or cynical you are it 'drags' you along until you are shouting out with the rest in an almost uniquely British way. The combination of racy jokes, slap-stick humour and sexual confusion is so British, the only incongruous element is the happy ending.

As the audience bellowed a warning to the ugly sisters, played to spectacular effect by Graham Hoadly and Paul Burnham, to "Look behind you!!", whilst they walked about in ignorance, I thought about the Government. Social enterprise is not only a quick win, but as another great quasi British innovation it has solved some of societies most dramatic, painful and costly problems and is right there for the taking on an unprecedented scale. Let's hope they don't walk off the stage without it just because they couldn't or wouldn't heed joe publics warnings from the cheap seats. If they do, I fear for our happy ending.

2011 is not a year many will be sorry to see the back of. We are told that 2012 is going to be harder still, with only the Olympics to look forward to for light relief. But for now I'm all for thinking about crossing that bridge when we get to it and focussing on the holidays.

The Ogden-Newton's are doing something we have never done before which is to run away. We aren't going far, Cornwall, but if friends and family asking often over the last few days when our usual entertaining Christmas marathon is due to kick off, we are about to disappoint more than a couple of folk with our nuclear option.

Nonetheless Hubbie and I decided that the five of us would go it alone, with only a few friends dropping by to celebrate and share a surf on Christmas Day, I can't wait. I have always been very keen on the concept of Christmas as an event which brings community and extended family together but the sweaty heap I end up in at the end has made me think again. At least for this year.

Having said that we have invited family over today for a pre-Christmas lunch which should be jolly and the kids and I have decorated the house, made mince pies, iced the Christmas cake and Katie my eleven year old has made the most stunning chocolate log from scratch and entirely on her own, amazing, truly amazing!

So in many ways we are having our cake and eating it too. Family extravaganza today then off on Friday for a log fire, pyjama fest of mulled wine, Quality Street, some nice little cheesy crackery things, endless games of scrabble and chess and no phone reception, bliss!

My view is we need to refuel the batteries so we can hit 2012 hard! If the coming year isn't going to be easy our job is to have some fun this Christmas. Oh yes it is I hear you cry, Oh no it isn't! Oh for heaven's sake.

Shed love

2011-12-11T09:14:00.002Z

Isn't it wonderful?

This weekend I have mostly been admiring my new shed. Over the years I have reused all sorts of containers to store my tools, everything from a discarded Westminster City grit bin to a lean-to we made from scrap timber to a hand-me down, very shed-like shed, donated by a relative. These strategies were necessary because about a week after I got my site, way back in 1996, the old shed that sat on its neat, municipal concrete footing blew down. I then muddled through believing that the true spirit of allotmenting is to make do and mend.

But, no more. Today I present to you, drum roll please... shed supreme. I am not ashamed to say that once it was up I actually sat, with my kids inside it, closed the door and contemplated my good fortune. This, I concluded, was living! Shelves will be next with especially placed long screws to hold up my tools which are very precious to me and include my grandmother's rake and father's spade. Legacies from great and gone gardeners.

Once I could tear my eyes away from my own Sydney Opera House, I tended some of the crops I have going strong, including the cavolo nero. I then broke a real sweat turning one of my compost bins over, removing the bottom layer, which had produced some fantastic organic fibre for the herb bed. All very satisfying.

To make my joy complete, I celebrated by lighting the massive pyre of this autumn's cuttings and past-their-sell-by date plants that I had been building up over the last couple of months.

Normally burning the amount of green waste I produce from pruning the summer growth takes a few hours to get through. But to my surprise, and I have to say momentary horror, the whole lot went up in a couple of minutes! This was probably due to the winds that do dry out cuttings very quickly if they are left where the wind can literally blow through them. My tribute to the God of sheds was a spectacular sight, making us all smell of autumn, smoky and clean.

The metamorphic heat created wonderful ash that will feed the bed I used for the bonfire and my soft fruits, that, ooo, love a bit of ash.

As I left tonight I dug in the lingering embers, felt their very welcome heat on my face and thought about the big question: What is life if it isn't an eternal cycle of life, death and transformation punctuated by moments of pure pleasure, like a new, sturdy shed? Beetroot brownie anyone?

Procurement: Obstacle or opportunity?

2011-12-10T11:38:00.001Z

Anyone who has argued the case for an increase in independent service delivery by those that prioritise social impact in public services knows procurement is the big game. Much of the debate in this space has focused on access to finance, with government initiatives lining up to potentially lend to new services. But how will that be possible if they don't survive the procurement process, don't win contracts?

Central Surrey Health is the most public example of the failure of that process to date and while much of what happened there is not a matter of public record, I can tell you that in no way did CSH fail to score with its purchasers in its ability to deliver a quality service. So what went wrong?

Simply put, the ability to access capital was considered significantly more important than the ability to deliver. This is becoming a common theme and so while access to capital or bonds will make a difference, and therefore helping new providers find such products is part of the current game, I am left asking why is this necessary? If we want community-based organisations to have a bigger role in delivering public services and make the most of their place on the front lines of community, why are we making their ability to be underwritten by capital bonds a deal breaker? I can't answer that question because I think it's the wrong one and as a direction of travel it is sure to stifle growth of these innovative and otherwise potentially successful entities.

Interestingly enough, the Cabinet Office itself found that the bond required of the £500 million contract CSH most recently tried to bid for was unnecessary, and yet it stayed in place.

Thursday saw the latest meeting of the board of the Transition Institute, which I chair. We started to tease out the debate on this and other issues related to spin-outs and while I cannot share with you the detail of what was a great conversation, I can tell you that the views of purchaser and provider were shared and a consensus achieved that while capital bonds made sense, to some extent, in the setting up of foundation trusts for instance, and there is an undoubted lack of investment capital in the public sector, looking for it via community-based service providers was looking for it in the wrong place.

Now, what is to be done about that? Discuss. The TI certainly will, and look to a series of recommendations for procurers who want to purchase services from social spin-outs.

Never getting board

2011-12-03T12:26:00.004Z

The Divine Sophi, a welcome addition to any creative meeting especially as she brings the choc!

The Social Enterprise London board has always been a source of inspiration to me. From the very beginning, it has been made up of some of the country's foremost social entrepreneurs. Co-chairs Mark Sesnan of GLL and Sophi Tranchell of Divine were supporters from the start, seeing the importance of a London-based agency promoting social enterprise. Other social enterprise stars joined the party later. These are busy people with often large businesses to run and in today's economic climate no one is unaffected by recession and has time to spare for the non-essentials.

So I continue to be humbled by the active and energised support of all our stalwarts. We had such a productive meeting this week, again well attended (SEL board meetings have never come close to being inquorate) and with some really strong and creative contributions. Sophi was very generous with the chocolate, which added to our clear thinking, and my thanks to June O'Sullivan for the use of her Marsham Street LEYF nursery as a venue.

SEL is going through a period of change in that we know our job is to ramp up social enterprise development, but the reality is there is very little money out there to pay us to do what we do best. We have known for some time that we face a double, triple even quadruple whammy as central government cut 90% of the contracts they had previously deployed to support social enterprise and regional growth by shutting, among other programmes, the RDAs, business links, Government Offices and Future Jobs Fund. Local governments are coping with swinging reductions in their budgets and have similarly cut much of their economic development initiatives. Those contracts that remain on offer from government or grant funding bodies now face hysterical levels of competition due to their scarcity and most crucially social enterprises themselves have diminished resources to pay for the business support they need. Any plan to achieve sustainability through the direct payment of fees needs to ask itself some hard questions.

What we face is a perfect storm with social enterprise in general and SEL in particular being asked to do more than ever with unprecedented low levels of resource. I have always been a fan of Blue Peter but even I am not sure what I can do for social enterprises with a cereal packet, toilet roll and some sticky-back plastic.

What we do have, however, is a solid reputation for delivery, a loyal membership and a perfect board. Their combined skills, experience, commitment and enthusiasm is an extraordinary resource in itself and one I shall be deploying heavily in the months to come. I have to say that although the cuts are a real pressure point, I enjoy the entrepreneurialism the new climate has teased out. I do not subscribe to the view that only the best survive tough times as I have already seen some good social enterprises go to the wall because social value is still a concept ahead of its time, but I do think at times like these you find out what you do best and who your friends are.

Its going to be bumpy and to ride this out, our offer to our 2,600 members must to be spot on. Watch this space, we will be calling on members for feedback and welcoming all interaction. You are going to be hearing a great deal from us so please do let us know if you like, or not, what you hear.

Why Social Value Ethos and its doers matter

2011-11-25T08:08:00.012Z

Introducing Sir Stephen Bubb and Nick Hurd. Photos Max Miansarow

Published by the Transition Institute

This week the Transition Institute (TI), which I have the privilege to chair, launched its first research document, Social value ethos. This piece comes firmly from the TI philosophy that it is possible to increase social value in the implementation of new forms of public service.

Working in partnership with Nesta, the champion of innovation, and many other leading organisations active in the space of public service outsourcing or spin-outs, the TI is providing the framework to debate and produce evidence such as we see in Social value ethos. Key players in the TI are those that share the view that social value can be optimised in public service through such means as employee ownership, social entrepreneurialism and mutualism. They are Co-ops UK, the Employee Ownership Association, Local Partnerships, Social Enterprise UK, 2020 Public Service Hub the Office for Public Management, our old friends, ACEVO, and many, many more.

This well-organised event (thanks to the wonderful TI team member Jillian Oxenham), was held in the successful spin-out GLL, in fact, ironically in one of their spinning rooms, where we had some stunning contributions from our expert panel, ably orchestrated by TI interim Director, Dominic Potter. Our panel all featured in the case studies in Social value ethos; they are Siobhan Clarke of Your Healthcare, Andrew Burnell, City Health Care Partnership CIC and Brendan O'Keefe from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Youth Services, supported by Sabina Khan, Director of Policy and Research at SEL and the lead author of the research. The panel described the way in which they tackled the challenge of change, the importance of staff engagement, the added social value they had achieved and why that was important, and the need they all had for more support and information at the time of transformation. The report has been well received with some great comments from, among other social commentators, Cause4, read here.

Another successful public sector spin-out, NAViGO led by Kevin Bond, was also featured as a case study in the research and I am delighted to say subsequently won the Guardian Public Service overall award later on in the week at the Gala dinner held at the InterContinental and which I attended.

Andrew and Brendan tell it like it is

At the launch we heard from Sir Stephen Bubb of ACEVO, and the famous Bubb Blog, who made some really interesting points about the current imperative for new forms of public sector delivery. One thing he remarked on which really struck me was the contrast between the approaches of Blair and Cameron. Blair really liked the idea of independent service delivery, to the point of introducing well funded programmes like the Social Enterprise Investment Fund to support their growth, for him it remained all about improving standards of management. While for Cameron, it is all about community engagement and making a more meaningful connection between service providers and consumers. This really rang true for me and made me wonder what we could achieve if that second vision was underpinned by the kind of investment that systemic change received from the last government.

Then Minister Nick Hurd arrived to swing the proverbial champagne bottle at Social value ethos and in launching it he declared his support for the TI and all who sailed in her. He said some very nice things about me, which modesty dictates I may not repeat, but I liked the bit about being a doer.

When I was a little girl I agreed with my Mum to clear out a corner cabinet in our playroom. Coming home and finding I had done no such thing she wasn't cross, just aghast. She explained her reaction by saying, "But you always do what you say you're going to!" And so it has always been, a doer like our valiant public sector trailblazers, nice of Nick to notice.

Social value ethos delegates including the fantastic Siobhan Clarke (centre)

FENTON!!! and having a rant about rogue dogs

2011-11-24T10:40:00.002Z

Last night hubbie and I had an absolute howl at the YouTube sensation FENTON!! It is very, very funny see it here: FENTON. We live on the edge of Richmond Park and drive, walk or cycle through it daily, something we know is an absolute privilege, and we are always struck but what an extraordinarily beautiful place it is for the use of everyman and his dog, but ...

Here comes the moan: funny film but why was Fenton not on a lead? I'll tell you why: in my experience some dog owners treat Richmond Park like one big toilet/dog run and often don't bother with a lead.

Over the 15 years we have lived next to the park, every one of the five of us has been attacked by dogs that were not on a lead. The entrance to the park nearest to us, Sheen Common Gate, is literally covered in dog excrement. We have stopped using it on foot as you can't walk through without having to wash your shoes on return. Ironically the bin put there for dog waste by the local authority is often completely empty.

It staggers me - when rogue dogs run up to you, jump at you, growl, bark and sometimes start to snap - how hopeless their dog owners are. Both hubbie and I have really fallen out with dog owners whose dogs have gone for the kids in the park and who have been completely unequal to the task of getting their dogs off our children. We have seen dogs pull over pushchairs, attack each other and the deer, even, shockingly drawing blood.

Clearly the park is a good place to walk dogs. We all love dogs, but keep them on a lead and for pity's sake pick up the poo! If that all sounds too much like hard work, get a hamster.

All in apple pie order

2011-11-20T10:14:00.006Z

I had an amazing day on the allotment yesterday with my nephew Tom Woodford. He did some serious heavy lifting of wood chip mulch and manure and I pruned for Britain. Starting at the front, I cleared back the asparagus, autumn-fruiting raspberries, gooseberries, Jerusalem artichokes, blackberries and grapevine.

Tom mulched the paths with the free wood chip that the council leaves at the site gates and also helped me bring 28 bags of manure down to No 31 to feed and protect the soil.

Tom, glad its's the last bag!

Tom is a keen rugby player and used to play for his university team in Newcastle but he still found that gardening is more than a little physically challenging. Watching him, I was hit by those thoughts that all adults feel when looking at children who have grown up around them. How do they get so big? Gardening, like family, is all about lifecycle and in preparing for winter we are making way for the next generation, the life yet to come.

It was a real treat to have a bit of muscle and I made the most of it. At this time of year I really enjoy putting my allotment to bed, but it is a brutal job involving very heavy lifting. I now have an 8ft tall pile of cut vegetation that will need burning when it has dried out a little and some serious digging to do.

So, thanks to Tom, I have made a great start towards my annual pre-Christmas goal of having the whole site tidy, fed and dormant for the big freeze. I have long since modified my ambitions for winter harvesting as the slugs, wind, birds and snow usually deplete anything I have tried to grow in the past, other than horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, cavello nero and beetroot. This year I haven't even put in broad beans as the snow really knocked back last year's autumn-planted crop, which was greatly outperformed by those that went in later in the following spring. Gardening is all about learning lessons, and I have learnt mine, which is: don't fight the weather.

Yesterday was also very special because of the heat, we actually caught a little sun and for near December that is extraordinary! And as for my apples, despite taking baskets to SEL and giving bags away, we are still nowhere near working our way through them. So today I will be making an apple pie which, if it is any good I will post a picture of.

Racing through Social Enterprise Day with men with moustaches

2011-11-19T11:15:00.038Z

Latzo lorverly prizes at Livity, Brixton

For the last few years, Social Enterprise Day has been a real celebration for our world. It's a day when a great many social enterprises make the effort to showcase some or all of what they do. At SEL, we did our bit with a Guardian-supported launch of Spin-out and deliver, our latest publication on new forms of public service providers that go it alone to focus on social value, and an open day at the SEL offices.

At the youth and media company and SEL member, Livity, CEO Sam Conniff had Super Mario in and some guy in a red hat from the Cabinet Office to announce this organisation has organised youth consultation across the UK with Nintendo. This will co-design practical ideas that will make a real and lasting difference to young people. Nintendo intends to start piloting these co-created solutions for and with young people in their own communities as soon as next year.

Over the other side of town, SEL Director June O'Sullivan of LEYF gave this year's Margaret Horn Lecture at the RSA on LEYF research that explores social franchising as a model to tackle the challenges of child poverty. Read her lecture: 'Child poverty: Why social franchising is a giant step in the right direction'. This event was chaired by Matthew Taylor, chief executive at the RSA.

Spin-out and deliver at the Guardian

Our own Guardian event sparked some really good debate and Matthew Booth, Head of Policy at Ealing Council was fantastic. He explained what was happening at the council and his frank and enthusiastic approach was a breath of fresh air. Participants got stuck in and a good discussion followed that I really enjoyed. As ever Andrew Burnell of City Health Care Partnership was on great form. Andrew is on the board of the Transition Institute (TI) and is as good an advertisement of public sector spin-outs that believe they are the next generation of public servants as you are ever likely to get. He was sporting his Movember moustache which, while impressive in a challenging facial hair sort of way, was no match for the tash of Super Mario. (Movember is an initiative that encourages men to grow moustaches in November to highlight issues and fundraising around men's health.)

Andrew will also be speaking at the TI launch of Social value ethos, its first publication on Monday at GLL facilities in Marshall Street, Westminster. Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society (as seen above and a person who started following me, @aogdennewton on Twitter yesterday), and Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO and TI board member, will also both be there.

Hearing about social enterprise

Back to Social Enterprise Day. I left the Guardian to race back to SEL offices where the staff had done a lovely job smartening us up for a social enterprise drop-in day. We had no idea how many would come, so were chuffed when over 50 social entrepreneurs came through our doors. Mei Hui, SEL's Senior Business Advisor, gave a presentation to over 30 of our guests and the rest met SEL staff and enjoyed some networking.

I had to break of to do a Live Guardian Q & A on, ironically the future of business support for social enterprise following the sad closure of our sister organisation RISE in the South West. During that discussion there were plenty of comments to the effect that everything we do should be paid for at the point of contact. Sitting in on Mei's presentation and listening to the comments from participants, I was struck by how much advice those new social entrepreneurs needed and how utterly unable the vast majority were able to pay for it. In this harsh new economic climate, it is hard to think those people are not our audience. After all, wasn't supporting community development through enterprise why we were set up in the first place?

When Mei, Jillian and I shut up shop at around 7.30pm, we congratulated ourselves on an excellent social enterprise day and wondered about next year: what would the world of social enterprise look like then?

2011-11-17T21:14:00.000Z

Spin out and deliver

Allison Ogden-Newton on the launch at the Guardian of the latest guide to public sector service spin-outs

Allison Ogden-Newton
Guardian Professional, Thursday 17 November 2011 08.00 GMT
Article history

Some services, such as childcare, are mostly undertaken by independent providers. Photograph: Photofusion Picture Library / Al/Alamy

So often the story of social enterprise seems inextricably linked to public sector reform, and while there is actually so much more to the growing world of ethical business, what is happening in the arena of public service is undoubtedly big stuff.

Today is Social Enterprise Day and will be celebrated all over the world as a day that matters. For our part Social Enterprise London is launching Spin Out and Deliver here at the Guardian which is our nattily entitled latest thought piece on what is actually happening to those who are leaving direct employment in public services and becoming independent service providers. We started on this journey 15 years ago with our first guides on services such as childcare which we thought could be done more efficiently by those outside the public sector whether they started there or not. Today we learn that leadership is the key, that identifying and supporting those able to inspire and drive the project is the single most significant contributor to success.

To give you some idea of the scale of change, as an example, Social Enterprise London is working with four local authorities across the political spectrum, that between them plan to spin out 22 services. I would take this as evidence that services will be done differently in future, the only arguments left to have are, should services be delivered by social or shareholder-driven value enterprises? And, how can we make sure our services continue to improve in terms of their social impact? At Social Enterprise London we are part of the Transition Institute, an information platform for reform in public services that promotes social value focused delivery. At the institute the mantra is transform not just transfer. We showcase trailblazers who have made it work and help each and every spin-out to learn from those that went before. Some of these new service providers you might recognise, likeLEYF, the market leading early years foundation, and some like Circle Partnership, the health-based company you may not. The report tells us that there is still a great deal of confusion about models and if we are to help these new entities to be sustainable that is a worry.

One of the key things prospective spin-outs told us was their frustration at the lack of specialist support. Even when they found organisations like Social Enterprise London they had no budget to pay for the work they needed doing, and the agencies that could have assisted them like Risein the south-west had experienced 100% funding cuts. This is a growing pressure point. The economic crisis has created a demand for specialist advice and eliminated the public funding to support the propagation of that expertise. It is too easy to say that if that advice is any good the market should pay for it as the market really means fledgling spin outs and growing numbers of start-ups with no budget.

Our live Q & A here at the social enterprise network today is an ideal forum to discuss this. I wonder how many think community business and public sector transformation can really happen on the cheap?

Allison Ogden-Newton is chief executive at Social Enterprise London

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

allisonogdennewton
17 November 2011 3:19PM
Thanks to everyone who came to the launch of Spin out and Deliver this morning and participated in this afternoon's Q & A which had in the end 73 comments and not all of them mine! It's great to know that social enterprise is getting that level of interest.
I hope you are having a Happy Social Enterprise Day we are at SEL!!!
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mjraywsm
17 November 2011 4:09PM
Are the guides social? Can others take them and update them after the publishers have gone? In other words, are they under something like Creative Commons Share-Alike?
Small correction: RISE did not have a 100% funding cut - only the RDA grant had gone. They held other public contracts. Although the cut has proved catastrophic, I'm not sure if we know the exact number because RISE is refusing to release the promised full accounts yet. It was still charging subscription fees and trading, taking money from many businesses who could ill afford it, right up until the EGM... the EGM where windfall payments were proposed. Maybe RISE was an I-can't-believe-it's-social enterprise?
Happy Social Enterprise Day too! software.coop isn't doing much this year because the RISE rearguard campaign has drained us and we're preparing for the International Year of Co-operatives 2012.
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JeffMowatt
17 November 2011 6:37PM
Allison, The web site for Transition Institute refers to the concept of Creating Shared Value, an academic theory from Harvard business school. The reasoning however for embedded social value and rethinking capitalism, derives from our papers and strategy proposals spanning the last 15 years from the point that the P-CED concept was proposed in a paper for the White House.
More relevantly in 7 years UK operation we have demonstrated this as a working model within the supply chains of several international corporations.and the UK public sector.
Why does a UK social enterprise organisation endorse the unproven theories of an American university when it could stand by the UK social enterprise which has been the change?

2011-11-14T20:48:00.001Z

Live Q&A: Support for social enterprises, Thursday 17 November, 1-3pm

Is the fall of RiSE a sign of things to come?

David Mills
Guardian Professional, Monday 14 November 2011 15.29 GMT
Article history

What do you want and need from your regional and national support bodies? Photograph: Jon Super/AP

The closure of rise, the south-west based body set up to develop and support social enterprise, has raised questions about the future for social enterprise support bodies.

In this live Q&A, we'll be asking:

• What do social enterprises - and those considering starting up social enterprises - need from support organisations?

• Does the rise of social media and other sources of online support mean that regional and national support bodies are less important?

• How can the surviving regional bodies survive and thrive in a difficult economic climate?

Tell us what you want and need from your regional and national support bodies. If you work for a regional or national body, log in and tell us what you're doing to serve those who need your help.

Also, if you'd like to leave a question, please do so in the comments section below, or come back to ask it live - and follow the debate - on Thursday 17 November from 1pm to 3pm.

Do get in touch with Gines Haro Pastor for more details.

Expert panel

Allison Ogden-Newton - Chief executive, Social Enterprise London

Allison is the chief executive of Social Enterprise London, London's leading agency supporting and promoting social enterprise, the business model for the 21st Century, throughout the Capital and Internationally. Last year SEL assisted thousands of social enterprises in developing their businesses, got hundreds of young people into jobs and worked in 9 countries.

Allison has successfully promoted social enterprise to a wide spectrum of decision makers, raising awareness and creating a community of support for future development through highly effective networking and strong strategic partnerships.

Social Enterprise Summit: the challenge of engaging the private sector

2011-11-14T18:46:00.002Z

From left to right: Paul Drechsler, Wates, Allison Ogden-Newton, SEL, and David Mills,
Guardian social enterprise network. Photograph: Felix Clay

In todays Guardian Social Enterprise Network forum Claudia Cahalane writes, The CEO of a major corporation which has worked with 32 social enterprises said on Wednesday that the sector is not visible enough to private companies.

Speaking at the Guardian Social Enterprise Summit, Paul Drechsler, head of construction company Wates, said he thought it made sense to work with social enterprises but he had underestimated how much effort would be needed to find them. In the 'How to get corporate organisations to engage with social enterprise' session, Drechsler said: "Two years ago, we put together a small, dedicated team to look at how we could engage but I was surprised that finding social enterprises would be the biggest challenge.

"We have had two people working full-time to research the social enterprise market and we have now contracted social enterprises on 100 projects," said the CEO, whose company turns over £100 million a year. "But less than one per cent of our spend is with social enterprises and if we want to scale that up it has to be easier to find social enterprises."

CEO of Social Enterprise London, Allison Ogden-Newton, said there needed to be an easier access point for corporates wanting to work with the sector. "Perhaps through one of the representative agencies of private companies," she suggested.

Speakers said that "getting in through the CSR door" could be a positive move but Ogden-Newton reminded delegates that some private companies would not be interested in social value.

"The message around social impact can be quite limited," she said. "If a company is ordering toilet rolls or handwash from one of our members, they often just want the right price. But it's good if you can get the CSR people to talk to the commercial procurement people and then you can tick several boxes with one gesture."

Nick Temple, director of business at Social Enterprise UK, was also on the panel. "Talk to them about how you can increase staff retention rates and reduce their costs," he said. "Working with a private company requires investment on both sides but the corporate sector is taking social enterprise seriously. Microsoft has a director of social enterprise, which demonstrates the commitment out there."

Peter Cousins, founder of Brighter Futures Workshop, which won the Guardian Social Enterprise Award on Wednesday, said he was struggling to get private sector interest.

"We have worked hard to enhance our profile and have won several big awards but we still haven't got corporate interest," he told delegates.

Down but not out: Reporting from the Guardian social enterprise conference 2011

2011-11-09T16:48:00.002Z

Rt Hon Nick Hurd speaking to Patrick Butler of the Guardian

Yesterday I spoke at the very well organised Guardian social enterprise conference, where some good debates were held and I got to meet up with lots of my social enterprise colleagues. Since the cuts began in earnest, events have become rare so you would expect a heightened buzz, but unless it was just me, I wasn't getting that. I think it's fair to say folk were subdued, was it battle fatigue?

Keynote speaker Nick Hurd, our Minister, was interviewed by Patrick Butler editor of Guardian Society, where he spoke of the need to create a level playing field for social enterprise, his regret that Central Surrey Health lost out to the private sector, his understanding of the frustrations many have had with the Work Programme and unhelpful public sector commissioners who still don't get it. All pretty hot topics and yet when he had finished, no hands went up for questions. Patrick had to press people for a response - that's not like us is it? Speaking to delegates I realised how measured most people have become and although there was still the usual social enterprise optimism with people pitching their ideas to one another, there was something else in the air. Was it caution?

I think it is fair to say that while public sector outsourcing is a big part of our agenda, especially in the way in which we can support those public sector workers who are looking to spin out their services as mutuals, for those social enterprises looking to tender their services into the public sector, business can be bonsai slow.

There was much talk about money being made available, with Nick O'Donohoe from Big Society Capital (formerly Big Society Bank) outlining the opportunities for borrowing there, but again this did not get the audience response he was perhaps expecting.

I spoke over lunch with another one of the big investors attending the conference who told me of the pressure he was under from his lords and masters to lend but was struggling to do so. He explained this by making a point I made in my last blog: getting the money out was a problem because potential borrowers did not have the right level of business support.

Our market is still young and, not only that, it is complex. Manufacturers have ideas that are often so innovative they look too risky to back. Contracts in the commercial sector, as elsewhere, are scaling up to take advantage of economies of scale and as such are proving too big for fledgling SMEs who can do part but not all of a potential order, and public sector spin-outs cannot borrow without an established, fully constituted asset-holding governance structure in place. And without investment they struggle to get that far.

Even for those who have spun out, public sector contracts that carry no recognition of social value and just look at price fail to recognise the added social value of social enterprise that is so integral in Chris White MP's bill which I discussed with him at the House on Monday. Without an increased understanding of the economic and societal advantage of social value - getting the disabled people employed, the unemployed young people returned to work, the environmental damage reduced, the vulnerable families supported - these will all get put to one side as government discounts are driven upward and the lowest unit price wins.

If we are not going to miss out as a society we must decide what we want our future private and public sectors to look like and then we have to invest not just capital but also expertise to create that vision. Social enterprise offers a unique blend of self-help, innovation and inspiration but as it has an uncomfortable relationship with both the traditional public and private sectors, someone has to nurture it and given the government has most to gain from its growth, that would be a logical place to start. The Japanese turned a rural economy into a leading global industrial nation in 50 years through smart thinking; we bounced back from the Second World War in 20 years because our successive governments shared a vision of a prosperous nation. The challenges we face are no less monumental and only a big vision for economic growth that leaves no-one behind will snatch glorious victory from the jaws of incremental decline.

The closure of RISE

2011-11-07T16:18:00.003Z

From the RISE website

Like everyone I have been shocked by the announcement of the closure of RISE, the body in the SouthWest set up to support the development of social enterprise. This is a devastating loss. I haven't had a chance to talk to their ceo, my friend Lucy Findlay, who understandably is rather preoccupied, so I don't have all the relevant information, but I do know a thing or two about the challenges facing social enterprise support and it is time we all faced facts.

This Government has not prioritised the support of social enterprise business development in anything other than finance, by which I mean the actual money not help with working out if you need it or what you could do with it. So whilst money could be argued as the most important element of business growth I would also argue that for the majority of our members, making the most of the kind of finance that is on offer is not something they feel they can do at present, for now they want basic business advice, the support of their peers and access to the wider social enterprise community, and they have no money. In short they need what is referred to in our world as finance readiness, something SEL has been offering for 15 years and RISE for nearly as long. It is interesting to note that where social enterprise development agencies have been longest that is where the density of social enterprises is at its greatest. Chicken or egg?

I know its not fashionable to say this, but is grant funding for social enterprises or their development really so terrible? I see no contradiction between social enterprise agencies making money through trading to deliver social impact and being in receipt of grant, nor have I ever thought support bodies must be self sustaining through fees to be legitimate. Social enterprise creates wealth in the most deprived communities and their social impact often provides the Government with a healthy return on its investment which must be worth making, no? The idea that such things as research and policy development for instance can be supported through income generation is simply not practical in my view. The RDA's have gone, and in London so has the Government Office and the majority of London Councils grant money as well, we have said goodbye to the wonderful Future Jobs Fund, and since the introduction of the Work Programme, work creation projects for most smaller providers have mostly gone too. All of this can be multiplied when you also add the European funding that can not be drawn down due the absence of matched funding. In short the cuts have been eye watering.

SEL will survive, but not because we are better than RISE, nor because our members are more prolific or loyal than RISE members. No, we will survive because we have long since worked on adaptive relationships with clients through our consultancy, welcomed collaboration from private companies who sponsor our work in exchange for commercial access to our members, and have re shaped the organisation to offer only that which can be bought and paid for. The result is we are much smaller, you may have noticed, we do a lot less policy, but I like to think we are still perfectly formed.

I mourn the loss of RISE, I wish I had been able to do something to prevent it from falling over. I know some of its staff and have always been impressed by the quality, creativity and commitment of their approach, I am very sorry that social enterprise will lose that expertise. RISE was the best of us and it will be missed, especially by me. I can only hope that this will make those remaining work harder to support one another so that social enterprises get infrastructure that delivers growth, and we can be confident in saying we can not do that alone.

Should social enterprise be regulated like other forms of business?

2011-11-02T09:37:00.002Z

MOTIV CIC as seen on the new CIC website

That was the question I was asked yesterday as I spoke to the Local and National Regulators conference at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). Delegates were regulators, not a natural audience for the subject of social enterprise you may think, but an important one in my view. It was interesting that as soon as I and my fellow speaker Sara Burgess, the community interest company (CIC) regulator, had finished speaking, that was the first question. I responded that yes they should be regulated the same, I can't imagine a world where social enterprises are treated differently and still taken seriously, but then I went on to ask about the motivation for the question. A discussion ensued and it seems that many regulators, at least those there, felt under political pressure to give social enterprise an easier ride.

I have no idea how this manifests itself or indeed if it actually true, but as a perception it is worrying. I pointed out that in my experience social enterprises feel highly regulated and that they often tell me of their struggles to be trusted and understood by regulatory authorities in areas such as planning, finance and health and safety. It seems to me that in fact social enterprises are being treated exactly the same as ordinary SMEs but that when very challenging regulatory issues arise, the valuable work they do for a wide community comes to the fore, potentially turning a process-based problem into a political one.

I know from my members how hard it is to comply with all statutory requirements, not least because small businesses don't get a how-to pack only a what-you-did-wrong notice. I also know we all have to play by the rules, but as our community matures - and hearing from Sara that the numbers of CICs were up to 5,800 was great news - and the business focus of what we do becomes more widely understood, I hope any sense from regulators that we are looking for special treatment will give way to a more considered view. To be fair, many of my audience at BIS made it clear they already have a lot of time for social enterprise and in fact the regulator who asked the killer question turned out to be a keen board member of his local allotment society. So over tea, talk of health and safety quickly gave way to an animated and hilarious discussion about the politics of fox control.

2011-10-20T17:46:00.000+01:00

Why social value is more important than 'social enterprise'

Allison Ogden-Newton finds that social entrepreneurs are relaxed about changes to Chris White's public services bill

Allison Ogden-Newton
Guardian Professional, Thursday 20 October 2011 14.20 BST
Article history

Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Social Enterprise London

If, like me, you have been referring to Chris White's public services (social enterprise and social value) bill as the social enterprise bill, after this week you will have to think of something else to call it. We now know that mention of social enterprise – that bit that many consider as the radical element of the proposed legislation – is to be removed, leaving only reference to social value, which strikes me as a touch of "don't mention the war".

I have to confess that Greg Clark, the minister for decentralisation and cities, told me in December that the government intended just such an amendment, so I was slow to realise that this was news. In truth, the bill is doing better than any of us dared hope and, as to be expected of all private member bills, it has been subject to extensive amendments – but a social enterprise bill that no longer refers to social enterprise has to be a joke, right?

To find out I spoke to June O'Sullivan of the London Early Years Foundation, an organisation that delivers early years services targeted at the most deprived families in five London boroughs. As ever, she cut to the chase. June told me, "What I want from any kind of bill is a level playing field. Local authorities are looking for the best service they can afford and while the social enterprise element of what we do interests councils, when we get feedback from successful contracts, it's all about the service we provide, nothing else."

I asked June what she would like from the legislation and she told me that anything that removed procurement barriers like a mandatory £20m turnover to tender, and added, "getting the concept of social value into their [local authority] heads wouldn't hurt".

This idea was echoed by Mark Sesnan of GLL, a company that manages 100 leisure facilities promoting community health and youth employment, making GLL probably the UK's most successful social enterprise delivering public services. Mark told me: "Having social enterprise in there was powerful, but removing it is not terminal. We welcomed the bill because it asked for government to look for more than just price in contracts. If it still does that then that's great, continuing to describe such activity as social enterprise would have been the icing on the cake."

Mark and June work closely with cuts-ravaged local authorities, which gives them a profoundly pragmatic view. Sarah Richards, director of sustainable environment and enterprise at Essex county council, told me, "We are really interested in social enterprise and its inherent social value and while we might have struggled in response to mandatory legislation, we genuinely welcome any support to our growing relationships with Essex's social enterprise community."

As for removing references to social enterprise, it is my view that as long as our community continues in its struggle to agree a definition of social enterprise, that was always going to be tricky. The impact of what we do, the difference we make to vulnerable people's lives remains the real show and, as for language, June said it best when she told me: "It's not a battle worth fighting; if we try, it will lose us the war".

Allison Ogden-Newton is chief executive of Social Enterprise London

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here

Living with migraine

2011-10-19T09:33:00.002+01:00

Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I am a regular migraine sufferer. I had my first episode at 17 when the sight loss and drilling pain led me to believe I was dying of a brain tumour. Thankfully I have insight into the condition now and since coming across SEL member, The London Migraine Clinic I now have an excellent regime of care.

I was chuffed this month to see another fan of the Migraine Centre in my Red magazine. Ruth Tierney reported in her article 'I lost months of my life to migraines' that she finally found an effective regime at the clinic. The wonderful thing they do there is assemble experts in migraine who take the time to do a full analysis of your life and health to discover not only the best treatment for you but also help you understand more about what triggers your episodes. I was recommended a combination of hormone and pain relief treatments that have enabled me to manage my condition.

I also came to understand that while my episodes were proceeded by manic behaviour where I would work into the wee hours then paint a bathroom, for example, I was not in fact triggering my migraines with frenetic behaviour but rather that the drive itself was the start of the migraine. I learnt that by trying to relax during those periods of extraordinary activity I could at least mitigate some of the worst effects of the inevitable head hurt.

I still get hit every month, but they no longer prevent me from working and getting on with a normal life. Still, having had migraines for such a long time I know first hand how hard they can be to live with and now as a board member of the clinic, I am delighted to be able to support their work in the development of world class innovations in treatment and becoming the first migraine treatment centre operating as a social enterprise.

If you suffer from migraines or severe headaches, contact the centre on 020 7251 3322 and talk to someone today. It really could change your life, and you don't just have to take my word for it, as Ruth describes the treatment she receives at the clinic, "The results have been miraculous ... I'm no longer tip-toeing through life at the mercy of pain."

Dealing with stress while watching autumn's setting sun

2011-10-16T10:11:00.006+01:00

Autumn treasure indeed

It's supposed to snow later on this week but this weekend, the weather could not have been more perfect, in an eerie sort of way. In stressful times we all need to find our oasis and for me it's the allotment.
I was late down to the site as I had to remove a very large camellia shrub that had died from my garden, I suspect from drought. It could also have been a fungus as last year's winter flowering was not special but either way the shrub had to come out which meant I arrived at the allotment in the afternoon sun. And what sun it was, the heat was extraordinary, so everyone was sunbathing including our kingfisher on the brook and the odd, lazy fox.

The sun does wonderful things for the soul, it made me wonder what people who don't have allotments do with their anxieties. In fact, like blogger and tweeter Haypsych, Hayley Lewis, I am worried about people's stress levels, this piece 'Tick-tock, tick-tock: The stress level and well being time bomb" posted today reflects the growing trend of increased workloads for those still at the coal face and struggling under the load.

I have been struggling to recover from a nasty chest infection, working all hours and - aside from relentless direct messages on Twitter about a so-called 'bad blog' about me which I assume is spam, so never open - last week was a crazy week. All of which melts away as I once again wonder at the bounty of my crops. Having said that water shortage and pests are becoming a real problem, leading to my brassicas looking limp and becoming besieged by Croila, which are cabbage white caterpillars that, like the rest of us, are having one hell of a late summer. While the caterpillars are having a good munch, they have yet to affect the yield but I will have to keep an eye on them. I could spray but if a frost comes, that should do the trick.

My raspberries and blackberries are going on and on and even my strawberries are trying for a late second fruiting, which is really weird. I am trying not to worry about what all this means and like my kingfisher friend, I am loving the late harvests, stocking up for winter and enjoying such sights as my allotment neighbour Boos' Delphiniums, which have been nothing short of spectacular this year.

It might be stressful within the world of social enterprise but I'm match fit, with an October pavlova loaded with homegrown soft fruit. You simply can't beat it.

A new social contract for a new era

2011-10-13T20:37:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I read this really spot-on piece in the Guardian that describes the need for politics to build a new consensus with the population if we are to achieve successful reform of public services. It was written by my old friend and collaborator Ben Lucas who is now the principal partner of the 2020 Public Services Hub at the RCA. Ben has been instrumental in the development of the Transition Institute, the innovation SEL co-founded with partners NESTA and strategic and intellectual support from a broad range of change-makers and public service experts. The Transition Institute is a platform to promote, debate and describe new forms of public service delivery that seek to maximise social value and in the space we are creating we want to build understanding of these new forms of delivery and so we welcome this timely contribution.

For us, successful reform is all about consensus that we are confident of achieving with the right strategy and support. So with Ben's kind permission, his piece is as follows.

Where are the citizen-focused public services we need?

Despite the grave economic conditions England faces, none of the main political parties are reflecting seriously on what this will mean for public services

- Ben Lucas
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 October 2011 15.56 BST
- Article history

The coalition has pursued structural change over engaging with the public, says Ben Lucas Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Getty Images

This week the Commission on 2020 Public Services publishes its first year assessment of the coalition government's record on public service reform. What really stands out has been the failure to engage citizens in establishing a new public service settlement. When we published our final research report a year ago, the challenges facing public services looked daunting – fiscal squeeze, an ageing society and disappointing social outcomes. But the situation has worsened. The economic outlook is now very grave. Yet none of the main political parties used the conference season to reflect seriously on what this will mean for public services and the social contract they embody.

There have been welcome initiatives. The government has been sure-footed in its desire to simplify welfare, and has rightly promoted open data and the more imaginative use of information and communications technology to improve accountability and enable the development of new forms of services. But a big opportunity was lost after the general election to establish a national conversation about how our public services can respond to rising demands and tightening finances, and at the same time achieve better social outcomes.

It's instructive to see how, faced with similar pressures, the Scottish government has tried to create a new consensus. The Christie Commission, established in November 2010, engaged with stakeholders and citizens across Scotland to develop a shared vision of a new framework for public services. Its diagnosis was brutal and clear – Scottish public services cannot afford, socially or fiscally, to carry on as they are. The report called for a new framework based on four principles: community empowerment; service integration and collaboration; prevention, rather than "failure demand"; and greater efficiency. The test will, of course, be in how much Scottish politicians and public service leaders have the resolve to drive these changes through.

In England, we are lacking an overarching framework and the broader public consensus on which this would need to be based. What is missing is any coherent account of what the relationship between citizens, communities, social institutions and the state ought to be in low-growth, austerity Britain.

We persist in organising our vital public services as though the only things that matter are professional autonomy, economic incentives and consumer accountability. Lasting social value is co-created between users and deliverers, so the real challenge for the future should be how we can socialise our public services. In health, the focus on structural reorganisation has overshadowed the need to engage the public better in managing and improving their own wellbeing. This analysis is not an argument for a minimal state, rather it is about how an emphasis on social productivity can improve the relationships between services and people, and not only extend citizen capability but also tap into a wider pool of social resource.

Can politicians begin an open and honest dialogue with citizens about the need for a new social settlement?

• Ben Lucas, is principal partner, 2020 Public Services Hub at the Royal Society of Arts and a 2020 public services commissioner.

If you find quantitative easing hard to swallow, try eating fennel

2011-10-10T08:54:00.003+01:00

Autumn sweet fennel at its best

According to the Press Association, the Bank of England gave its clearest signal yet this weekend that we are on the verge of a double-dip recession and to stave off further decline, it is going to release £275 billion pounds (£75 billion more than previously thought) of 'new money' into the economy via the banks. Speaking on Sky's Dermot Murnaghan Sunday programme, Dr Matin Weale, a senior member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, said that, "There is quite a lot of scope for further quantitative easing. Before the purchases we announced last week, the amount of Government debt in the system was actually higher than it had been before the earlier bout of quantitative easing."

He went on to say, "There is quite a lot more that could be done but at the same time I think one has to recognise that central banks can't be expected on their own to resolve all the world's problems."

Well that's true, once you get past the glaring chicken-and-egg problem that the banks and their reckless lending working in cahoots with optimistic borrowers and turn-a-blind-eye Governments have got us all into this mess in the first place. No, once you get past that bile-inducing thought, it seems fair not to expect banks to dig us out, but instead businesses like social enterprises that will employ vulnerable people and make things. Oh dear, that brings us back to banks again, which, despite their "I got £250k to refurbish my pub from my friendly local bank" adverts, are not lending anyone much at all, according to what my members are telling me.

So why, I ask, is it not possible to make the purchasing of Government bonds, which in effect guarantee the capital within banks upon which they base their ability to lend, subject to increased and demonstrated SME lending? And while we are at it, why can't we encourage banks to prioritise lending to those who intend to employ more people? If we don't do something a bit cleverer with what is essentially the people's money, even if it is theoretical cash, it will miss the target of those most affected by this remorseless recession, who are the unemployed, the underemployed and their families.

This weekend's haul from the allotment, a cheering sight

So if all this is too hard to swallow, then it's time to write to your MP and think about fennel. This magical vegetable has been used since ancient times to relieve indigestion and, even more pertinently, enable the digestion of rich, fatty foods. Fennel is there to help you swallow the unswallowable, which is why Pernod tastes so nice, and why it must be the vegetable of choice to eat with quantitative easing.

I have some stunning Florence fennel, grown from seed that has enjoyed the warm weather and swollen very nicely indeed. I think fennel is about the prettiest and sweetest tasting autumn crop on my allotment, which is groaning this weekend with produce coming at me appropriately from left, right and centre.

Our Sunday's roast will benefit from roasted parsnips, caramelised fennel (Delia's recipe), fresh horseradish sauce (Gary Rhodes's recipe) to go with the beef, calovo nero with nutmeg and garlic, redcurrant jelly in the gravy and followed by the family favourite beetroot brownies and apple and walnut loaf. All homegrown and homemade. It's no wonder I am not skinny and yet carry a cheery smile. I have much to smile about even if the economy sounds each day more like a plot line from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

2011-10-09T12:22:00.002+01:00

Best of the web: Friday 7 October

From big business to Livity, we round up some of the most useful and interesting social enteprise links from around the web

Kate Hodge
Guardian Professional, Friday 7 October 2011 17.01 BST
Article history

Best of the web: Friday 7 October. Photograph: ImageState / Alamy

The Fair Trade Revolution

Tiago Dalvi, founder of Solidarium: Transforme O Seu Mundo, is an Ashoka changemaker who is using his sharp business acumen to help improve the lives of thousands of people in Brazil by connecting local producers with established global retailers like Walmart, JCPenney, Whole Foods, and Target.

Video: what does social enterprise mean to big business?

At the launch of Arc, a social enterprise initiative promising 1,000 new jobs in the Olympic host boroughs, Tim West finds out what big business thinks of social enterprise and asks whether there really is a shift from corporate social responsibility to corporate social innovation.

Where will our young people work?

Earlier this week Allison Ogden- Newton was on the judging panel for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Social enterprise Livity won the honour, leading Allison to consider the plight and prospects of today's youth.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

Where will our young people work?

2011-10-05T09:59:00.000+01:00

Livity at work

Watch this, it moved me to tears...

This week I've been thinking about young people and, like a centaur looking to the skies, I've been following the Conservative party conference searching for signs of growth stimulation and job creation.

Today I met up with a group of women leaders and much of our conversation was around the plight of our own young people, stuck at home, unemployed or doing unpaid internships with no prospects for paid work in site. As the progeny of very capable clever women, the young people in question are university graduates with good degrees. We worried about what would become of their aspirations and enthusiasm, and pondered questions like what happens to the brain once you watch too many episodes of Homes Under the Hammer, and how a country can rebuild when its highest qualified graduates are struggling to contribute to the economy?

Earlier on this week I had the privilege of presenting the social enterprise award at the very glamorous Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year ceremony for 600 business leaders at the Hilton, Park Lane. These are the leading enterprise awards in the UK and the culmination of an exhaustive process. As you might expect, Ernst &Young really does its homework: applicants have to submit accounts as part of a detailed application and so making it to the finals is certainly an achievement in itself. To assist the judging process we have sight of company accounts which, as a social enterprise anorak, I found facinating because you get to see in detail how inspirational leaders like Sue Riddlestone from BioRegional built a business creating environmentally sustainable communities all over the world.

During the interview part of the process, I was able to meet and talk to fellow Twitter enthusiast, Susan Aktemel of Impact Arts, which does outstanding work with some of society's most vulnerable people through the inspirational medium of arts and the legendary Karen Lowthrop from Hill Holt Wood helping street kids find their way back to society through forest management and personal mentoring.

Thankfully I was not alone judging the social enterprise category as all the judges had input in each category but we all fell for the winner Livity whose work is beautifully illustrated in this video which had its premiere today at the Conservative Party Conference as it was shown as an introduction to the Prime Minister's speech. Livity bring together young people who want to work in media with some of the world's leading brands like Google and the BBC to produce media campaigns and the award-winning Live magazine.

A worthy winner I am sure you will agree, co-CEOs Sam Conniff and Michelle Clothier gave a stonking acceptance speech that was rewarded with a rousing applause. While they spoke, I was on stage standing with our host, the very lovely Fiona Bruce who whispered to me how she too was inspired by their story. Livity work with society's most vulnerable kids who are a million miles from the kind of academic success achieved by the unemployed young people described at the start of this blog. So if having a first from the London School of Economics doesn't get you a job, what chance have you got with no academic qualifications? The answer is Livity and more power to them and those like them still able to find ways through enterprise to inspire, engage and employ young people from the UK's poorest communities.

Let's hope the Prime Minister watched the video and was persuaded that supporting social enterprises like Livity are key to building employment in the UK's inner cities, and providing hope to those we sadly refer to these days as the "lost generation".

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

2011-10-02T22:14:00.006+01:00

Dolgo crab apples, rubies on a tree

I have been poorly this week, battling a nasty chest infection, so as part of my convalescence I decided to make some more crab apple jelly.
Although I already have a few jars from my own crab apples I couldn't resist picking some ruby red Dolgo apples from a tree belonging to one of my fellow allotment holders, who generously allows us all to help ourselves every year. As Katie and I joined others to fill our baskets, another allotment holder asked me to post my method for making fruit jelly so here it is...

It is a simple recipe and not my own as I follow the late, great Christopher Lloyd in all things gardening and cooking especially the instructions in his marvellous Gardener Cook in which he tells us to use 1lb of caster sugar per pint of juice when making jelly.

So the first thing to do is to make the juice, which is simple enough to do. Top, tail and chop up your apples and add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, with a little extra, which stops the fruit from burning, then boil for around 15 minutes. Once the fruit has swollen and softened, pour the whole lot into a muslin suspended over a pan or a natty juice bag like the one I bought a few years ago and leave it covered overnight to do its thing.

When you have assembled enough sterilised jars you are ready to make your jelly but don't be tempted to wring the bag or the end result will be cloudy. Using Christopher's formula you measure your juice, do the maths and I warm the sugar in the oven, which speeds things up.

Put your juice and sugar on a rolling boil and once it has started to resemble molten lava start skimming off the scum. Crab apples have loads of pectin so you shouldn't have long before you get a wrinkle on the back of a spoon, which is a set, and the signal it's time to turn off the heat and pot up.

In potting up, I put the jelly in a metal jug and use a potting collar to keep the jars squeaky clean. Screwing each lid on tightly I enjoy in an hour or so hearing them popping as the jars cool down and the steam creates a nice sterile seal, which should keep them fresh for months maybe even up to a year.

We love crab apple jelly in our family with everything, especially Sunday roasts, so it never hangs about long enough for me to know its true shelf life. It's certainly a lovely way to get your apple a day.

Can you tax bad business? And is social enterprise good business?

2011-09-28T15:00:00.003+01:00

Ed Miliband proposed rewards for grafters in business and not 'predators'. Photograph: Jonathan Hordle / Rex Features

Whether you think the Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, did a good job in delivering his speech yesterday to conference or not, his comments about good and bad business have sparked serious debate.

In the past, I have been worried when I hear spokespeople in our movement talk about the revolution that social enterprise represents in business practices and how casino capitalism has heard its death knell because I think that is wishful thinking and shows a detachment from the real climate of British business.

We do not have all the answers but social enterprises do have inspirational models that challenge the idea that profit is greed. And while I don't think the bulk of business leaders in the UK are looking to change their ownership models to enter the slipstream of ethical business, I do think they feel the pressure to be more accountable for how they make money as well as how they spend company profits. Good businesses are those who are careful producers who don't pollute the environment or over-extend their borrowing, but who do employ as many people as they can and invest even a fraction of their profits in acts of charity. While those that borrow against inflated assets, cut staff in favour of quick profit and make no attempt to minimise their environmental impact are the bad ones. Trying to tease out how you could tax these differing approaches is a waste of time, because no-one is ever going to do it, but if you take a step back from some of today's noise around taxing unethical behaviour and look at these ideas, you start to see, I think, what Ed was getting at.

The eminent economist, Will Hutton has been saying some critical things lately and we ignore them at our peril. He has been defending the Euro and its role in what he believes is the front line protecting sterling. Hutton says that without the Euro, each European currency would have come under attack, like a fox in the hen coup, from the uncontrolled financial markets that would have picked off currencies one by one, and if the Euro falls, they may do so yet. Even though there would be little sense to this annihilation, just as foxes will kill every chicken in the coup, we must understand it is just what they do if we let them. Hutton says governments have to recognise this behaviour and act to prevent it. This is bad business and we need to protect ourselves against it before all growth drains from society.

Ed is saying the same thing: that trusting the markets has led us to a very dangerous place and if we are to return to safer ground, we must try a new path. There have to be regulated financial markets, separated banks and significant investment to get people working, producing, saving and spending. If banks are lending, business can afford to hire more people and those who do that will contribute to the public coffers in a way that bank bonuses never will. Hutton, in his Guardian article "Our financial system has become a madhouse we need radical change" quotes and agrees with George Magnus, a senior policy adviser to investment bank UBS, when he says "No major advanced economy is doing anything to promote growth and jobs." My members are dying for lack of cash and their closure means not only increased unemployment but importantly job losses in already deprived communities.

Social enterprises try to scale the north face of business, which makes them heroic. They do the impossible and with trail blazers like Divine chocolate causing a stir in the chocolate world, they can change behaviour in even the most established markets because ethical sells. Since Divine entered the chocolate market with its story of farmer co-operatives and fair trade, suddenly all the big companies are offering fair trade products, more producers in the developing world are getting a living wage than ever before, and I can start eating Maltesers again (Mars estimates that by going Fairtrade they will boost sales by 10%).

This is how social enterprise activity changes the way markets operate and frankly we could all do with more of that. We just need those lovely banks to start lending us the money to do it with, which they will if Government makes them carry more capital, lend more to SMEs and works with the rest of the world to sort out the Euro crisis so we can all start to sleep at night. Then and only then can good businesses get on with making work and wealth creation Britain's big story.

I heard it on the grapevine

2011-09-25T12:13:00.005+01:00

This week has seen some glorious cropping on the allotment, the highlight of which was my annual grape picking. To be honest, I was late this year as I find I can only preserve one fruit per week. But a favourite of mine are the grapes, which are a tricky one to preserve as they have to be picked through to sort the bad grapes from the good then stewed and sieved, reducing the harvest down to 700mils of potent juice.

I started with 4 kilos of fruit which ended up as four small jars of delicious grape jelly with an intensity of flavour that it's hard to get with any other fruit. Grape jelly is a wonderfully wine-flavoured preserve that works well with croissants, cheese or anything where a distinct wine flavour is called for.

I picked another haul of apples and tweeted this shot while I was down on the site, which was re-tweeted with some lovely comments helping my twitter following rise to a thrilling 1,300 folk who are interested in my take on social enterprise, fruit, vegetables and family life.

This very welcome warm weather, combined with the effectiveness of my plan - hatched at the start of the year to have a productive September - is leading to a stunning autumn. In the past, the height of my cropping has come around in the more usual August when we are away and have missed out, so I am chuffed that, together with some lucky weather, we are having an outstandingly productive September.

Tomorrow I will be taking my award-winning apples to SEL's office and, later today, friends and family will be eating a C-shaped birthday cake I made for Hubbie, Chris, decorated with my delicious raspberries, which are still coming in at around 2 to 3 kilos a week.

I'd like to thank my friend and fellow social enterprise enthusiast Antonia Swinson, formerly of the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition, who was visiting me this weekend and masterfully assisted with the cake. It turns out Antonia is not only a social enterprise expert, financial journalist and superb writer (I am a great fan of her books), she can cook as well.

One of Antonia's most entertaining books, You are What You Grow, was based on her experiences on her famous allotment in Edinburgh, If you are interested in the history and development of allotments, it's a great read.

Antonia was filling me in on her exciting new project, which you will hear more about in due course, but where she intends to use her superb financial credentials for the benefit of the social enterprise movement. This is good news for all of us. Antonia was a journalist on the Financial Times for many years and author of Root of all Evil, a book that ponders the impact of borrowing and debt and described by Alexander McCall Smith, the author of The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency as a "fascinating read - surely the most remarkable thing to have come from the pen of a financial writer for many a year". So she is well qualified to advise on the central challenge for our community, which is how we finance growth.

You heard it here first: the woman who is in print predicting the recession when the majority of economists were content with the pre-recession levels of individual and banking borrowing is going to focus that expertise and talent to tease out the issues for social enterprise. As Antonia and I agreed over the cocoa powder, for social enterprise, it's all about the money: where we get it from, what we have to do to attract it and how we spend it. Only with the right finance will we be able to maximise social value.

If Virgin is the answer, it's the wrong question

2011-09-22T18:40:00.003+01:00

Prime Minister David Cameron and Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude welcome Big Society Award winners Central Surrey Health to No. 10. 22 November 2010; Crown copyright

The flagship social enterprise, Central Surrey Health (CSH) has been in the news this week. Having pitched for a £500 million contract, it lost out to Assura Healthcare Ltd, a private company that is 75% owned by Virgin. CSH is considered an exemplary social enterprise for very many good reasons and not just because Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has called it his 'pin-up' mutual. It is incredibly well run, innovative, forward looking and inspirational. From the very start, the company was all about being No. 1 at giving the very best nurse-led, caring healthcare to the community. In its journey, CSH has developed numerous innovations in community healthcare and the Government has even gone out of its way to support its progress, including bestowing a Big Society Award in November last year. And so we are all gobsmacked that it has lost out to a big, new, private sector provider.

My friend Patrick Butler, the Guardian's Society Editor, has written an excellent blog http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/sep/19/social-enterprise-big-society-gets-reality-check?INTCMP=SRCH that outlines the issues and I urge you to read it. So I shall not repeat the debate, but I do have something to add.

Today, via Twitter and the Transition Institute (the body we set up with Nesta to promote public sector spin-outs that maximise social value, and which I chair), the debate seems to be swinging between the why bother? camp and the what's all the fuss about? lot. I agree that some social enterprise failure was bound to happen and that not all social businesses were going to win contracts. Fair enough, but this was a top notch social enterprise up for doing what it does best. So what was the question posed by Surrey Health Authority that Virgin could answer better than CSH? Without having all the facts, I am inclined to speculate that if Virgin had the right answer, it was the wrong question.

I hope these issues are debated at the Labour and Conservative party conferences, but I also hope people avoid drawing the conclusion that this means social enterprises or social spin-outs can't cut it. The truth is they can do the job, they can deliver value, but the system of commissioning has not caught up with the new choices and innovations. Until commissioners start asking the right questions, we will get these sort of howlers that are no good for anyone's health, much less vulnerable patients.

Crossing the finishing line!

2011-09-18T17:06:00.003+01:00

My husband Chris, 15 year old son Joe and his friend Isaac (left to right) crossed the finishing line this afternoon for the Orchid Cancer charity bike ride in the New Forest today. The boys were shattered but triumphant and, despite making the decision to race only as late as this Wednesday, they raised over £1,000 for male cancer. It's still not too late to donate at Just Giving.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far and for the messages of encouragement. I am chuffed to have a 15 year old fundraiser in the family, he's such a super chap. Chris and Joe want you to know that the above shot is of them crossing the finishing line, despite it saying 'start' above them. At this point they had completed their 50 miles in 5 hours 15 minutes, with a few chocolate stops along the way. Oh and the odd beer.

In the meantime Katie and I created a victors' meal with the allotment produce. We made the usual beetroot brownies, Katie's epic apple and walnut loaf, some roasted vegetables with my parsnips and carrots and a chicken roasted with home-grown tarragon. We added Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Dauphinoise potatoes that we got excited about having listened to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 and some runner beans, roasted beetroot and homemade crabapple jelly. It is now, I can report, all gone, and although some of us were rather hungry, it all went down well with rave reviews.

Orchid: Support my boys cycling to raise awareness of male cancer

2011-09-17T09:12:00.005+01:00

The boys make it to the 18-mile point and get stuck into the hot chocolate.

My eldest, Joe, his Dad as well as a school chum Isaac are cycling for Orchid tomorrow, the charity that campaigns for and supports male cancer sufferers. They will do a 50-mile bike ride in the New Forest, a decision they only reached as recently as Wednesday. The charity they are cycling for raises awareness about male testicular, prostate and penile cancer, supports sufferers and donates money for research.

Orchid, raising awareness about male cancer

Blokes are notoriously shy about talking about illness in general, let alone cancer of their bits so I am really proud of them for doing this. Having looked around the Orchid website, I am horrified to learn that boys are at risk from testicular cancer from 15, and that it is the most common cancer in young men. So education and awareness are key, because early detection means everything.

Orchid were also supported by SEL member Guy Watts who did a heroic row, with his partner Andrew Delaney, across the Indian Ocean for the charity. Guy has since gone on to set up Streetscape, the social enterprise that creates and maintains corporate gardens and provides employment for the vulnerable and long-term unemployed.

Joe's uncle, my brother Chris Ogden, is a leading surgeon specialising in the treatment of prostate cancer, so by doing this ride, my boys are also supporting the important, lifesaving work Chris does.

Team Ogden-Newton would welcome sponsors of course, so if you could click here and give them a few quid, that would be fantastic. Thank you to all those who have already done so. Last time I checked they had nearly up to £1,000, it would be great to get them over that milestone. It's a good cause and 50 miles is a long way for a couple of teenagers. Still, plenty of time to contemplate just how sore they can really get in that sensitive region. Keep checking boys!

Tweeting about the riots @NCVO

2011-09-15T17:55:00.002+01:00

Riot police charge past burning buildings on a residential street in Croydon: Guardian

Yesterday I went to a summit at SEL member, Rich Mix in Bethnal Green organised by NCVO to analyse the riots. It was the kind of edgy, gritty debate I hadn't participated in for some time, and you didn't know which way the room was going to go. NCVO had invited over 100 people, which meant that those working at grass roots level were there to talk about what they understood to be happening in communities. Restricted access to the mike usually means the big guns don't turn up, but in the audience and participating at the roundtable discussion panels we had Stephen Bubb, CEO at ACEVO, the Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, and members of the cross-party Riots Panel. I sat next to Stephen, which is always interesting as his views, like those of Stuart Etherington who opened and closed the event, are those commonly heard in Whitehall.

On my table I really enjoyed talking to @AndreHackett a graduate of the School for Social Entrepreneurs who had founded We Make a Change, an interesting organisation that connects communities with people who need to hear from them. I asked Andre the question that was bothering me: were the rioters in fact different groups operating as a mass? When the riots occurred it seemed to me that rioters fell into two groups, those who were angry, with a statement to make, and those who were just there to nick stuff. Given some saw themselves very clearly in one group and not the other and others had begun in one group but shape shifted in the electricity to the other, it was hard to analyse the motivation of the rioters as a single entity. I asked Andre about this as he had been working directly with those who rioted before and after the event, and he agreed. This idea that community is in fact a diverse group of opposing interests even in the manifestation of their rioting was echoed in Stephen's recent blog.

Both men argued, as I did, that young people need the hope of jobs in the communities in which they live. The lack of jobs for young people is a national crisis and one that will end, regardless of punitive action, with people out on the streets again and more worryingly slipping between society's cracks, disappearing without trace. A critical point made by one contributor was that young people are a resource, not a problem, this for me is the point of the exercise. There was a collective call for a young people's employment programme to sit alongside the work programme, which sounded a lot like the Future Jobs Fund. I know I bang on about the Future Jobs Fund, but it did work, the 500 young people we helped to get into work could have been 2,000 if we had been allowed to carry on, and we were just one provider, this is important and worth serious consideration. Yesterday it was announced that a further 77,000 young people had signed on since July. Getting them into jobs is the place to start to avoid future riots and further economic decline. But that takes enterprise - social enterprise if you ask me as the businesses that will be offering jobs to kids with limited qualifications and zero experience, in the places they live, will be social enterprises like Livity in Brixton that worked with over 1,000 kids last year.

This is clearly a hot topic as the twitter stream from the event, has continued at least in my tweet world. We don't have quick answers but I do think we are getting there in the spirit of community, by working together.

Back to school blues, the true cost of childcare and learning to get along

2011-09-13T17:59:00.001+01:00

I got a call this afternoon from our eldest: he had been locked out by his brother and was stranded at the back of the house. From the office I called home and demanded a repatriation of the garden dweller. It's back to school and things are a little tetchy.

Navigating the change in temperature from holiday to school is this week's challenge in my first back-to-school without any childcare. Although the kids are really growing up and my husband is front line in the school shuttle service for our youngest, there is still a gap between the supervision necessary and an appropriate adult to provide it. But like so many working parents with teenagers, we shall have to limp on and hope for the best.

From first-hand experience I know childcare is expensive but was still shocked to hear from last week's Daycare Trust and Save the Children report that UK residents pay the highest childcare costs in the world. Restricted access to affordable, quality childcare is the single largest reason that women do not return to work after having children. The loss to the workforce of so many qualified, experienced women must signifigantly reduce productivity, which has to be a bad thing. I know some men also give up work, but should anyone have to make that choice? Which is not a choice at all if it is done as a matter of necessity.

SEL board member June O'Sullivan, CEO at LEYF, the London Early Years Foundation, was everywhere in the media last week, discussing the report. June is one of the country's experts in early years' provision and the effects of restricted access to childcare and she spoke so well about the need to create affordable childcare and support more families through the early years. Once again, a social enterprise leading the way! June told me that LEYF had also been in the news this week when a visit by the then PM Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling (another two boys who struggle to get along) to a LEYF nursery was the footage used to cover the Darling diary book launch. June has since had a visit from David Cameron, I wonder what the children make of it all?

Stripped of my strimmer, I ask, why bother?

2011-09-11T10:01:00.021+01:00

Partially fanged but still fabulous, my first
parsnips this year

Someone said to me recently that they went to my blog because I write about social enterprise and yet many of my contributions seemed to be about an allotment.

She said, "How can anyone write so much about gardening?" Clearly, she was not impressed. I do wonder what folk make of my rather eclectic mix of social commentary, horticulture and family life, but in writing about my passions, there does appear to be three themes. I hope they don't jar too much and the almost weekly gardening slot at the moment isn't too dull. My hope is based on the fact that I get as many comments about the gardening as other posts, so I know at least a few of you share my interest in the sod.

The seed bed in full production

Having dinner last night with a dear friend, she asked why I blog. I couldn't really answer except to say that when writing about what fascinates me, I do it to organise my thoughts, which I really enjoy, as much as a desire to inform the reader. Clearly, you may say, and I have had comments posted to the effect that my pieces sometimes miss the desired mark. But 28,000 unique visits to the blog this year proves something I suppose.

All of this is by way of introducing another gardening post. I must report that there have been a spate of thefts at the allotment and I have been relieved of my strimmer. It was a trusty friend, which, like its owner, needed careful handling. Good luck getting it started thief: without the usual three nods to the east and prayer to the gardening god, you haven't got a hope. Fellow tweeters have shared their allotment losses with me and theft on allotment sites does appear to be widespread.

The problem for me is not just the lost strimmer or the empty beer bottles left in our picnic area, it is of course, the violation. The allotment is my haven, where I go to feel good and at one with the world. For therapy, spiritual rejuvenation and veg. My children often go there alone either to fish or pick produce for supper, and I cannot bear the idea that on the same land, in the same space, greed and contempt sometimes stalk. So even though I had a great haul again yesterday and put another 3 kilos of raspberries and blackberries in the freezer, I worked on the site imagining someone looking at the fruits of my labour and finding it twee, smug and irritating. Or maybe I'm just over-reacting. It is after all only a bloody strimmer.

So a couple of things to tell you. The first is that I observed the Cavolo Nero I have under netting to protect it from the birds is being eaten by something, in dramatic contrast to the rest of the Cavolo Nero that has not been netted, see above, which is looking marvellous and well on course to provide us with some winter greens. I love this Italian brassica, which is as versatile as any cabbage but a stunning blue/black/green colour with a strong, distinctive flavour. Like all brassicas, it is hardy and one of the few things I managed to crop right the way through last winter.

I also pulled my first parsnips of the year, some of which are 'fanged' – a technical term for shapes like fat legs doing one half of a star jump, but still they looked glorious to me. Also, I started picking my pears, which we had with stilton last night and, like my apples, they are absolutely delicious.

So all in all a productive day and one that demands I move on. I would buy a new strimmer today, but that would break my, never-shop-on-a-Sunday rule, which has remained unbroken for 15 years. So the grass will have to wait until next weekend. That and today is really the day to remember 9/11 and a fellow allotmenter who unimaginably lost her daughter that day. All thoughts must go to her and her family, and therefore I shall worry less about unwanted two-legged visitors on plot 31.

This week, all shall have prizes

2011-09-08T16:59:00.001+01:00

Wythenshawe hospital's biomass boiler helped scoop last year's overall Guardian winner award.
Photograph: Jill Jenning

Everyone is back from their holidays and there is something in the air, is it change? This time of year usually sees us all gearing up to hit the ground running for the autumn round of contract procurement, policy debates and sales pitches and that is all kicking off with even more than the usual bang with the Health Bill getting its third reading and a right old argy-bargy about the Social Enterprise Mark in the Guardian, so what gives? I’m not sure, but while I’m keeping an eye on the temperature of social enterprise, I have really enjoyed judging the Guardian Public Service Awards this week and tonight I’m off to interview the social enterprise candidates shortlisted for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

These awards give social enterprises unparalleled opportunities to tell the world about the incredible work that they do and the difference they make, something that has never been more necessary. Yesterday, David Brindle of the Guardian told us that there had been over 500 applicants for their prestigious public service awards and if the shortlist was anything to go by, it was a very strong field indeed. As judges we had a great debate, none of which I can divulge of course but I sat next to Shaun Bailey of MyGeneration who I had seen on telly but not had a chance to meet, and our discussions over the nominations really gave us all a chance to interrogate one another’s experiences, views and beliefs. Fascinating.

The lovely Tim Campbell was also in my group. He, like Shaun, has set up a social enterprise Bright Ideas Trust after being a successful apprentice because he is passionate about supporting young people. Those two were just two in a room heaving with impressive judges challenged to decide between applicants, all of whom could be classified as winners.

To get the results of the Guardian and Ernst & Young awards you will have to wait until they are announced later in the year. I have to say having seen the shortlist of tonight’s social enterprises which I am to interview, it’s going to be a really tough call. They are all stunning and with my passion for social enterprise it will be like having to decide between my children, impossible!

How do you like them apples?

2011-09-04T23:34:00.004+01:00

A real haul

What 3 kg raspberries looks like

It's that time of year when cropping at the allotment has to be done with the aid of a wheelbarrow because 20 lbs of fruit and veg takes some carrying.
Given the revolting weather, I found myself picking fruit until the September rain had soaked right through to my knickers, but once at home and in a warm pair of PJs, Katie and I turned our attention to the fun job of working through our produce to preserve it.

Growing things to eat is really only the beginning of the story as everything you bring home has to be eaten quite quickly or preserved in some way. Having been away for a week I was chuffed to find a mountain of raspberries, 3 kilos in fact, but as they were picked in the rain they had to be eaten or made into jam within hours.

I was interested in Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall's raspberry jam recipe which calls for half the normal amount of sugar, and so I thought I'd give it a try. I was a little concerned when he didn't mention scum removal, which is odd, and I can imagine folk getting into a pickle trying to pot up non-skimmed jam. And what with that and his estimate of seven minutes, which would be a miracle to achieve a set, I decided to wing it. So after a rolling boil of 22 minutes we had 6 lbs of yummy, delicious smelling jam, I'll let you know whether we got a good set.

Then Katie and I sliced the runner beans which, once sliced and bagged, can be frozen and used just like peas. Years ago I bought an antique bean slicer like the one my parents have which is ideal for the job. I picked mine up in a junk shop but I notice you can also get them from eBay. They attach to the table or a work surface and give you a perfect slice every time.

Finally we stewed the blackberries with my lovely Granny Smith apples for the perfect addition to cereal and yogurt. A lovely welcome home from our holiday, even if it is still raining.

Staying in touch

2011-09-02T16:31:00.002+01:00

Helen, (left) and Michelle (right) heading off to new adventures

As we bid a fond farewell to SELites Michelle Richmond and Helen Deason this week I thought I would also update you on other news surrounding ex SELites.
Helen is leaving us to tour South America and spend some time with ex-SELite the fabulous Brenda Poggio in Argentina, and as I suspected might happen, Matt Jarrett has got himself into a bit of a pickle at his new place of work with the uniform requirements as you can see below. We are not at all sure he read the memo correctly.

Matt and his Meerkat outfit

Michelle, our Future Jobs Fund guru leaves this week to decamp to lovely Poole and we wish her well. No one knows as well as I do how compelling surfing and cycling can be but we do hope both she and Helen stay in touch. Both ladies gave of their all, changed many, many lives for the better, including mine and we shall all miss them, particularly me. As I like to say, once a SELite always a SELite.

2011-08-27T09:52:00.000+01:00

Lessons from the demise of the Future Jobs Fund

Despite the success of this now-defunct scheme, social enterprises are still unable to take the risk of hiring long-term unemployed young people, writes Allison Ogden-Newton

Allison Ogden-Newton
Guardian Professional, Friday 26 August 2011 06.00 BST
Article history

The Future Jobs Fund helped unemployed young people and the social enterprises they worked for. Photograph: Rex Features

In the next few days, Social Enterprise London's (SEL) final two participants complete their six-month paid work placements as part of the abandoned Future Jobs Fund (FJF) programme. SEL was part of the first wave of applicant organisations and so our experience over the last 27 months spans the FJF's complete cycle from glint in the Brown government's eye to one of its last beneficiaries.

When the FJF was announced in 2009, we had scant detail about how it would work and no idea about the scheme's suitability for social enterprise. We contacted our 2,400 members anyway to see if they were game for six months of a subsidised, long-term unemployed man or woman under 24. We were gobsmacked as the following 36 hours revealed hundreds of placement offers, and so London's Future 500was born.

The partnership we put together was with 164 social enterprises taking an average of four placements each. Given their small size, many employers needed more support to manage their young recruits than we had anticipated, but nonetheless they lived up to their reputation as social businesses and most made a job offer. In fact even though some participants struggled with the world of work – sadly, two even ended up in prison – 69% did not return to benefits, which achieved our ambition to work with those furthest from the labour market and help them become social entrepreneurs of the future. As Richard Cummings, HR director at Green-Works, told us: "The whole programme has been pretty painless and you guys really helped it work. Together we have made a real difference to the lives of so many people."

The scheme closed within weeks of the last election, so the 1,500 additional jobs we were subsequently offered have gone by the wayside. But why don't those social enterprises take young people on anyway if they have genuine jobs to offer? The answer is economic.

Social enterprises still struggle to attract mainstream investment so they are often undercapitalised and their restricted growth means that taking on skilled staff is a process undertaken carefully, and long-term unemployed young people with limited skills pose too great a risk. The wage subsidy combined with third-party mentoring, expertly delivered through social enterprises like Striding Out, reduce that liability. As Stephen Hurton, director of Proper Oils, told us, "Proper Oils would not ordinarily have offered him the job if we had not had the six-month period to induct and train him. This period was required to get the young person trained to a suitable level so he earned his offer of full-time employment."

This view was echoed by Caroline Roake, of Livity, who said: "For financial reasons, last year we couldn't have considered taking someone on without the FJF scheme, but having generated a junior receptionist role for it, we were very pleased to offer our receptionist an extension to her role after the six months were up. I'm sure there are many similar stories from other employers who have found they can't do without the person when the initial six months come to an end."

We know that FJF had difficulties elsewhere and some larger employers struggled. And we know that our final job number was particularly good, but as no project lead was asked to compile a retention rate figure and the government cancelled the evaluation programme we will never know with any degree of accuracy where it worked and where it did not. All we can go on is anecdotal evidence and the testimonies we still get from the social enterprises which became so committed to the project and the young people whose lives FJF changed forever.

"My coach definitely did help me to discover where I want to be and has helped me to become strong in the person I am," Sophia Williams, an employee at Think Productive, said.

Allison Ogden-Newton is chief executive of Social Enterprise London

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

2011-08-25T18:59:00.004+01:00

Why I don't believe GCSE's are dumbed down

Gulp

Today I headed out for work passing my 15 year old son, Joe waiting at the bus stop to travel in, on his own, to collect his GCSE results.
He is in Year 10 so the results he was picking up today were for the elements of course work and exams he was allowed to do a year early. He was nervous even though his Dad and I kept telling him he had worked hard enough to be proud of the results, whatever happened. As it is, he did outstandingly well with 5 A stars and a B.

I have heard a lot today about the dumbing down of exams and how more kids are getting higher grades because things are easier for them. I have to say this is not my experience. Having observed Joe's course work, memorably a dissertation on the arguments surrounding Genetic Engineering I feel weak when I think of the standards he has already reached. I think the results come because they are allowed several bites at the cherry, so rather than the results being dependent on a single exam, students can build up a mark in a way that means an increasing number are like Joe, they just keep going until they get straight A stars, or die trying. I'm not sure how I feel about this, especially as it produces unrelenting pressure over a much longer period, but with Universities setting ever higher standards, we can do nothing less than support him as he battles for his future.

Still, I am so proud. Bloody well done Joe.

2011-08-23T14:13:00.003+01:00

Commissioning of social enterprises affected by cuts

Social enterprises working in the public sector are losing out under cuts, undermining the hope that public policy changes would lead to more contracts, says Allison Ogden-Newton As seen in today's Guardian Public

Public sector cuts are having a detrimental impact on many social enterprises. That's the finding of a report out today from Social Enterprise London, the organisation which I head. Is social enterprise hiring or firing? suggests that the public sector is failing to sustain, let alone increase, levels of contracting to social enterprise with 68% of the 74 respondents reporting public sector cuts had negatively affected them.

Talking to social entrepreneurs every day, I know many are having a difficult time. So I was not surprised to find that growth is rare at the moment and those working with the public sector are finding things really tough. It now seems that the hope we had that changes in public policy would lead to increased public sector contracts was optimistic.

Our survey contrasts with that of Social Enterprise UK's recent Fightback Britain report (based on a look at 200 organisations) that depicts significant progress for social enterprises, which it found had grown faster than mainstream SMEs since 2009, whereas we're seeing a more alarming picture of redundancy and limited public sector commissioning. Although I can't fully explain the divergence, it could come from the particular public sector focus of our report, which led to feedback that there was less contracting and commissioning "as clients are less sure of their budgets and more competition for each contract."

Commissioning came in for particular criticism, with 66% saying they found it more difficult. We read comments like "local commissioners don't know what they are buying," and "if our local authority doesn't hand over contracts soon, there won't be anyone to hand contracts to."

Acting as a valued partner the public sector represents a vital market for social enterprise where many have built businesses around innovative services delivered through statutory contracts. A quarter of respondents confirmed that they had made redundancies this year while the remaining 75% were worried job losses were on the horizon. It seems the symbiotic relationship has stalled, at least for now.

Given localism and efficiency are the two pillars of the coalition government's vision for the future of public services, and social enterprises have such a strong track record in delivering both, these findings are disappointing. Nearly half (44%) of respondents reported losing contracts and, in trying to work out whether size was a factor, it seems social enterprises employing between 25 and 49 employees were most affected; in this group, 3.5% reported a decline.

It was not all bad news, however, a little over half said that they thought that the big society agenda remained an opportunity, although 11% said they didn't know what it was. We had plenty of feedback like: "I see big society as offering a platform for our non-profit organisations to thrive and grow. This is good for the community."

But perhaps the harsh new reality and the inveterate tenacity of social entrepreneurs was most accurately reflected in this comment: "I think 2012-13 will be harder as the full impact of cuts in local authorities take effect. But there might possibly be some opportunities around spot purchasing."

2011-08-20T14:39:00.004+01:00

It's show time!

Katie hangs on to them as the wind picks up

Today was the allotment show, our largest annual gathering of the 280 sites from in and around Richmond and East Sheen and a chance for the general public to take a look at the fruits of our labour.

We have a BBQ, drinks stand, cake and preserves sales as well as book and bric-a-brac stalls all in aid of the society. The highlight of proceedings is the produce show, own little Chelsea, where our society judge Mary puts us all through our paces. Once again this year I left it to the last minute, barrelling up 20 minutes before entries were due. But with the help of my allotment neighbour Donal, who had been far better organised and got himself sorted in time to help me, I made my entries, although ran out of time to put in my beetroot and raspberries. Every year I get caught short by the rules where, for instance, soft fruit needs to be on the stalk and uniform, and there have to be ten of them all without blemish and beans have to come in sixes and be straight with no nobbles. Who can remember these things?

I wasn't very hopeful so delighted when I got first prize for my sunflowers and apples, and second for my blackberries. Chuffed to bits actually, as was Donal who came first in blackberries and pears. It's an hilarious occasion with us all 'having a go', and although they were very strict about the deadline of 11.50 on the dot to make your entries, everything else was taken in the spirit of community with hearty congratulations all round. Everyone pays particular attention to the children's creative categories which I think is lovely, after all, the allotment for many is very much a family affair. So even as the heavens opened and we took shelter under the odd gazebo to cheer on the cup winners, it still felt like a good day all round.

The field of dreams and allotment fishing: who knew?

2011-08-20T08:44:00.004+01:00

Sunny side up

Sunflowers are like the human spirit: they thrive with the warmth of the sun's benevolence and they follow the light with steadfast optimism.
The world needs more sunflowers. The picture above doesn't quite give you a sense of the beauty of my sunflower bed. I should apologise but as they are over 10 feet tall, it's hard to get a good photo of my shimmering field of dreams.

Lost to blight

Tumbling Tom

It was a wonderful day with Katie and me working hard to get us shipshape and Bristol fashion for tomorrow's annual show, while Joe tried fishing in the brook. I have to say I thought he was being optimistic even though I had seen large chub in there, but having stopped off at our local angling shop and discussed the very spot with the shop owner and bought some flies he had made himself for the very purpose, Joe was determined to give it a go. Ever since our last trip to Cornwall, he has really got into his fishing and I liked the thought of him spending time taking in his environment. Like gardening, fishing is a wonderful way to connect to nature and take the time to notice the natural world. Our allotment is a magical place and the brook at the rear is of particular beauty, abandoned tires and shopping trolleys aside. It serves as home to a noisy moorhen family, ducks, parakeets and today I even spotted our resident kingfisher, so fishable fish should not have been such a stretch.

While Katie and I cleared away the blighted tomatoes for burning, we saved what we could, Katie held on to some of the fruit that was unaffected and told me she loved the little ones, particularly my golden Tumbling Tom Thumb which she thought looked like sweets.

Then with a shriek Joe emerged from the bushes that separate our site from the water with an eight-inch chub at the end of his line, he was absolutely thrilled. There is nothing quite like the excitement of a 15-year-old boy with a jumping, gasping fish on the end of his line. He decided to put it back but nevertheless he was hooked.

Joe stayed with the fish as they were jumping while Katie and I finished packing away our heavy haul of vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Tomorrow is the open day and I think Lot 31 will give a good showing and, despite our weak courgettes, abandoned tomatoes and slow pumpkins, we have some super runners, the best raspberry crop ever and of course those sunflowers, our crowning glory.

Facing the abyss

2011-08-18T08:53:00.002+01:00

I have often said, the best thing about my job is working with social entrepreneurs who change the world through the inspiring work they do. On the other side of that coin lies the hardest part, which is working with those who are experiencing profound difficulties as increasing numbers are, some of whom might even be going, going, gone. These terrible conversations are happening regularly these days. Today, I had that faltering exchange again with another leading social entrepreneur facing such difficult decisions. This is SEL's job and why we are there, to support social enterprises in the good times and bad.

I am glad members call me, just as I am profoundly moved by conversations that start with "Allison, I wanted to tell you myself because I didn't want you to hear from anyone else that we have called in the administrators." I can't tell you the sadness I feel. I am highly motivated to help, as you would expect, and I do evaluate any strategies that might have yet to be visited. No matter how hopeless the situation may appear, there are things that can be done that may just turn the situation around and at the very least it's important to know the correct process for an orderly closure. My hope, shared by us all, is that those who are up against it will be able to turn things around. So much hangs upon their success: jobs, people's futures, social and environmental innovation, advancement for the vulnerable, so, so much.

Most people experience hardship in a recession and although social enterprise has never pretended it is insulated against insolvency, like any enterprise, it can fail as well as succeed, but these are businesses that improve the lives of society's most vulnerable citizens and so carry increased losses because if they can no longer trade, more is lost that straightforward notions of wealth. We should all avoid the consequence of that, if we can.

Allison's Blog

Beating the winter blues

Great news for migraine sufferers

Can 2012 deliver the world's first social enterprise square mile?

Can co-operation save the nation in 2012?

Looking back with pride at 2011

It's behind you!

Shed love

Procurement: Obstacle or opportunity?

Never getting board

Why Social Value Ethos and its doers matter

FENTON!!! and having a rant about rogue dogs

All in apple pie order

Racing through Social Enterprise Day with men with moustaches

Spin out and deliver

Series: Live Q&As

Live Q&A: Support for social enterprises, Thursday 17 November, 1-3pm

Expert panel

Allison Ogden-Newton - Chief executive, Social Enterprise London

Social Enterprise Summit: the challenge of engaging the private sector

Down but not out: Reporting from the Guardian social enterprise conference 2011

The closure of RISE

Should social enterprise be regulated like other forms of business?

Why social value is more important than 'social enterprise'

Living with migraine

Dealing with stress while watching autumn's setting sun

A new social contract for a new era

Series: Second thoughts

Where are the citizen-focused public services we need?

If you find quantitative easing hard to swallow, try eating fennel

Best of the web: Friday 7 October

The Fair Trade Revolution

Video: what does social enterprise mean to big business?

Where will our young people work?

Where will our young people work?

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

Can you tax bad business? And is social enterprise good business?

I heard it on the grapevine

If Virgin is the answer, it's the wrong question

Crossing the finishing line!

Orchid: Support my boys cycling to raise awareness of male cancer

Tweeting about the riots @NCVO

Back to school blues, the true cost of childcare and learning to get along

Stripped of my strimmer, I ask, why bother?

This week, all shall have prizes

How do you like them apples?

Staying in touch

Lessons from the demise of the Future Jobs Fund

The field of dreams and allotment fishing: who knew?

Facing the abyss