Last month I wrote to Julian Le Grand, Chair of the Cabinet Office taskforce on mutuals urging him to address three key challenges for what ACEVO welcomed as an otherwise exciting agenda for the third sector.

However somewhat of a spanner was thrown in the works last week when we saw what has been coined Francis Maude's flagship social enterprise mutual lose out to a private provider. Assura medical were awarded a five-year contract to deliver community health services in north and west Surrey worth £90m over the strong contending social enterprise, Central Surrey Health.