May saw the launch of 3SC’s first Position Paper on the terrace of the House of Commons. We were doubly fortunate: the weather was excellent, and the attendance was splendid and tremendously supportive of what we are doing. Getting this high-profile exposure is vital to the future of 3SC and its growing network of collaborators – it puts us on the public landscape as never before, and knits the network closer together. In that paper we push for “more sensitivity in how services are procured and, within that, an explicit commitment, from Government, for third sector and smaller organisations to secure a reasonable share of the public procurement pie.” Our report’s publication coincided with the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committees report on the fall of Carillion – 105 pages but worth reading cover to cover – which called the episode a “story of recklessness, hubris and greed.” We believe it was also an unnecessary failure; had Government decided to give the Social Value Act some real teeth, the third sector could have been more involved from the start, and perhaps the hubris and greed would have had less room to dominate.

This month 3SC Impact has an interview with Yvonne Thomas of Interserve, one of the key people involved in the Transforming Rehabilitation programme, which is all about reducing rates of re-offending. Cutting recidivism rates is both a social and individual matter: the cost to society of re-offending is vast, at least £9.5 billion a year, but within that overall figure many individuals are struggling to escape a cycle of despair – a cost that no-one can put a figure on. Yvonne Thomas is a refreshing voice in this debate; transforming rehabilitation is, she says, a matter of “treating people how you would like to be treated.”

We hope that you enjoy the contents and do let us know what you like – or dislike – and what more we can be doing.

John Swinney, 3SC Chair