Friday 5 July 2013

This week I’ve been based in Manchester – not to see my revered Man United team this time, but to network and talk to the great and good in local government at the Local Government Association (LGA) annual conference. I was pleased to be invited to speak at the opening of the conference and was part of a panel with Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, Graham Allen MP for Nottingham North and Michael Burton, the editor of the MJ  . We were asked to voice our thoughts on a new publication and campaign launched by the LGA Chairman Sir Merrick Cockrell called ‘Rewiring Public Services’.

'Rewiring Public Services' sets out 10 big ideas to improve public services, save money and boost Britain's economy. To find out more about you can visit the LGA’s dedicated webpage or watch the campaign video.

I focused on how we have been rewiring public services since 2009 when we became a unitary council, and how we grasped the opportunities to work differently and make significant savings by working more efficiently. I advocated that it’s about being brave, taking risk and embracing innovation and that working differently with communities is the key. Local authorities need to let go of the control and enable communities to do more influencing the services they need, where they want them and how they will be delivered; in other words, our campus programme.

The clear message is that the next few years will continue to be challenging for local government and we have no choice other than to rewire our thinking and delivery. It certainly stimulated debate as did a session later in the afternoon on the future role of chief executives in local government.  I was asked to comment and this was covered the next day (Wednesday) in the Guardian . I stated that councils are politically led; politicians should lead and the officers should deliver what the politicians want and that’s what makes a successful partnership.

Economic growth was also the subject of Lord Heseltine's speech on Wednesday afternoon, in which he challenged local authorities to seize the opportunities written into his 'No stone unturned' review, where we are featured as an example that unitary councils lead to significant savings and efficiencies.

The problems inherent in the existing disconnect between health and social care and the growth in demand for services for older people was a key feature of the conference. On Thursday the RSA launched the LGA’s Demand Management Publication - which included a case study from us which features our Help to Live at Home Programme and how this is taking an innovative approach to managing this increasing demand.

It was a week of networking and profiling our council and I was pleased that we are gaining recognition for our innovative approach to meeting service demand and doing things in a different way with our partners and communities.

Jane