The notice on the rear of many large lorries makes it clear that the lorry and its driver will only be able to respond to other road users if they are in sight. The same logic applies to all of us, but being hit by a large lorry is a bigger threat than that of a family car, pushbike or even other pedestrian. The highway code and other common-sense rules are vital in our everyday use of the roads in our community if we are to avoid accidents and potential injuries. There is a clear parallel with the way in which our organisations work together with other bodies that are very different to ours. The need in a complex society for the public sector to operate along side the private sector and the so called third (or not for profit) sector is absolutely essential if we are to move from a place of uncomfortable silos that have few links to one another, into a society which achieves a great deal more than we have achieved previously for the same cost.

There a many examples of how this approach can work well. One is that of Street Pastors, working alongside the Police and Council, and in turn with the management and door staff of night clubs to create a safe space for those who like to go clubbing, to do so without threat. Another is the way in which the network of Food banks and FareShare schemes have worked in partnership with local Councils and with the food industry. In both cases, at their best these tri-partite arrangements are capable of solving problems that no one sector could achieve alone. There are significant differences between these three sectors in terms of capacity, resources and of course an attraction to individuals in order to donate time and money. It is inevitable that the sectors are in a different political context and some challenge is both inevitable and welcome if it leads to an open discourse that improves the agencies concerned. The work of FareShare has improved the attitude to waste from within the retail sector, the Street Pastors are able to challenge the use of glass drinking utensils and closing times of nightclubs.

However it is clear that some of the business in our communities do not have the confidence that we might hope for in the charitable sector. A researcher called Beth Breeze of Kent University has been speaking to Business leaders in order to discover what is needed for them to release people and funds more generously to charities than they do at present. According to the study 44% of those surveyed said that concerns about professionalism within charities were a factor in limiting their volunteering activity and their donations. Two-thirds of respondents said they lack confidence that skills and experience gained in the private sector would be useful to charities, and the same proportion said they lacked awareness of appropriate opportunities to get involved with charities. It is vital that charities do learn from this research. It was established to help legitimise a particular approach to creating links between charities and businesses, but there are a number of ways to achieve this objective.

One of the ways of increasing awareness of push bikes is to put lorry drivers onto one and helping them to understand the frustrations that the bike riders have. The same is true for the bike riders and it can be argued that the better we understand one another, the greater our awareness of each others strengths and weaknesses. That is perhaps a big ask, but it is much easier for our private sector to offer short secondments to charity leaders and vice versa. The Public sector could also operate the same system (its not unheard of for local government to offer secondments to people from the charity sector, a bit less common the other way around. As we approach a period of a much diminished public sector (both major parties are predicting this) it is time for us to contemplate doing things very differently.