You wrote, in a somewhat sceptical tone, about the future of inspection (‘Pillar talk’, January 15–21).
Events in Doncaster over the past few days have been instructive. They show that the public and politicians retain a large appetite for external inspections that report what is going on disinterestedly and expertly. The Edlington case is yet another reminder of how real-world problems cut across police, housing and children’s services.
Your leader said: ‘Attempts at joined-up government have fallen by the wayside.’
But joined-up government isn’t a choice, it’s fate. People don’t live their lives in the silos of public administration, in Doncaster or anywhere else.
Oneplace, reshaped and adapted in its second year, is a tremendously valuable way of looking at places in the round, which is why you are right about its ‘fighting chance’ of staying in existence.
