Yes, but…

The government has announced a pothole fund. Local authorities must prove they are filling enough holes to get their share. Hurrah says me the motorist! But wait a second: if the local authority had the choice, would they spend all that money on potholes? Maybe they have even more pressing problems, such as children with acute needs. Ringfencing the pothole fund, or indeed any fund, says “We at the centre know better than you who merely live there what you need.” If you believe that you may as well give up the sham of local democracy and relabel councils as local outlets of government departments.

Transformation….

The Times tells us today that '“Rachel Reeves will unveil next week a £3.25 billion transformation fund for innovative projects to save the taxpayer money.” Manchester Met’s Policy Evaluation & Research Unit tells us that relational public services can reduce public sector interactions with the most disadvantage groups by a staggering 95%.

Anybod spot a connection between those two sentences?

A jigsaw with fewer pieces?

There’s a sentence in the English devolution White Paper that hasn’t garnered a lot of attention: Over the long term, the government is announcing an ambition to align public service boundaries, including job centres, police, probation, fire, health services and Strategic and Local Authorities. Good luck to whoever takes on that messy job, but well worthwhile in hugely simplifying partnership working. Savings right away in that most expensive heading, senior management time. While you’re at it, maybe parliamentary constituencies too?

A minister’s dilemma?

Suppose you run a public sector organisation that, thanks to your hard work, has achieved difficult objectives set for it comfortably within budget while others in the same situation have not. In response the minister cuts your next year’s budget because you don’t appear to need so much and raises the budget of the others in the hope that they will now succeed. Are you OK with that?

Thanks partner!

Six members from six organisations have contributed to developing a short questionnaire about partnership working which will go soon to all relevant members of the network and beyond. Proof that all of us are better than any of us.

Never let a good crisis go to waste…

……has become a cliche but contains a useful truth. More councils are saying ‘going on like this is not an option’, beginning the search for the big prizes which can flow from genuine local collaboration and - to use another cliche - starting to confront the elephants in the room.

It’s the culture, stupid

An insight to any organisation comes from asking ‘How do you get on round here?’ If the answer is ‘Make sure you don’t get the blame’ who is going to take the risk of trying to do things better?

Gritty stuff

In a cold winter many years ago University College Hospital gave the London Borough of Camden £20,000 to grit more streets: fewer twisted ankles, less pressure on A&E. Prevention beats cure. Big ideas have long roots.

The public services revolution

Suppose we tied these three advances together: the devolution of public service budgets to combined authorities which then use Total Place to maximise value; a new social contract between public and council; a shift from transactional to relational public services. It can be done: it’s started.

Our place, our budget

Public sector boards whose members are separately budgetted by Whitehall will be driven by that line of accountability so inevitably only collaborate where there is a clear overlapping interest. The full benefit of combined authorities can only be possible when they work within a single devolved local public services budget towards a single set of local outcomes.

Hearts or heads?

When thinking about Total Place some of us start with the system: devolving powers and budgets from the centre. Others start with relationships: building collaboration across organisations. Who’s right? Both. Changing the system is sterile without changing how we work. Changing how we work is futile if it collides with a system which frustrates it.