Douglas Adams used to say London Weekend Television brought together the three most over-rated concepts known to humankind. This week, I found myself giving a presentation entitled Commissioning, partnership, transformation and leadership, which really required a similar disclaimer.

These words are so often abused and misused that their value is now entirely debatable. But, having named our partnership social enterprise The Public Service Transformation Academy (PSTA), I feel I have a duty to defend what they should mean. Commissioning, in particular, is often misunderstood – most frequently as a version of procurement.