CLES News

New Start/ CLES think time events

12th October 2011

New Start/CLES think time sessions aim to provide an enjoyable and interesting opportunity for debate, discussion and new ideas. The next Think Time takes place on 11th November and the topic is ‘Return of the riots: how do we avoid 2012 eclipsing 2011 as the year of social unrest?’

Capital gains

6th October 2011

If social capital lies at the heart of our health and wellbeing, how do you build it up? Sarah Frost visits Canada and the United States and discovers a little lateral thinking can go a long way.

Read New Start’s report on North American projects aimed at building social capital here.

Special report into Co-operative Councils

6th October 2011

With public services being increasingly marketised, a group of local authorities is looking to the co-op model to ensure the interests of local people are protected.

Read New Start’s special report into the Co-operative Council approach

CLES at the Conservative party conference

28th September 2011

CLES is hosting 2 fringe events at this year’s Conservative Party Conference. Everyone is welcome to attend these events which are free of charge and will be held at Manchester Town Hall.

The crisis in local economic development

20th September 2011 By Neil McInroy

New Start blog by Neil McInroy. Sometimes a collection of conversations and snippets of policy shifts add up to create a mood. I am worried! Progressive local economic development in England is in retreat.

Network interference?

15th September 2011

This week sees the inaugural meeting of the government-backed national network for local enterprise partnerships. Lee Pugalis and Lorna Gibbons ask: how does a ‘top-down’ network support ‘bottom-up’ LEPs?

CLES at the party conferences

26th August 2011

CLES announces confirmed speakers for the party conference fringe events, including Jack Dromey MP, Lord Maurice Glasman, Professor Danny Dorling, Lord John Shipley, Cllr John Merry and Cllr Richard Leese. The fringe events are free to attend and no booking is required.

The CLES fringe events will tackle some of the key questions currently affecting public policy. How can we get our economies growing again? What will localism mean for public services across the UK? Is a rebalancing of our economy an impossible dream?

Questioning the riots

11th August 2011

There are no excuses for looting, thuggery and opportunistic violence. However, there are significant basic questions to be asked and explored, and ultimately a local economic rethink needs to be considered. CLES chief executive Neil McInroy offers an analysis of this week’s riots and calls for the creation of new local economies that work for all young people.

Race equality at the local level… where next?

29th July 2011

New publication from CLES and One North West exploring the key issues raised at a joint policy roundtable held earlier this year. The roundtable involved participation from leading academics, representatives of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) voluntary and community sector (VCS), local politicians and also local council officers to ask: ‘where next for race equality at the local level?’.

Open Public Services – a fast track to privatisation or an opportunity for true collaboration?

28th July 2011

The government’s Open Public Services white paper has set out a path for the rebuilding of public services based on a people-focused, localised approach.
But without careful steerage, greater openness could lead to greater privatisation. In our latest In Focus report, New Start assesses the implications of the white paper and sets out some ideas for how it can be used to kickstart a new era of collaboration and co-production.