A taming of egos

The autumn spending review announcement will reaffirm that local government and its local partners face significant expenditure reductions for at least the next three years. And the depth and scope of the consequential cuts will be greater than any of us will have experienced in our working lives – this is 1930s, not 1980s, territory. Cuts of 25% to 40% can't and won't be addressed by efficiency savings alone. Bold strategic leadership will be required if local authorities and other public agencies are going to stop some services, fundamentally redesign others, introduce charges and place more responsibility on service users. Such actions will also demand sophisticated and informed engagement of staff, unions, services users and the wider community. Cost-shunting is not the solution. We know from previous periods of budget constraint that it is too easy for public bodies to do this Intentional or not, the consequences are the same – confusion for service users, waste of scarce resources and damage to valued relationships. Across the country, there are examples of local partners agreeing budget protocols. For example, in Worcestershire all the principal public agencies have agreed, among other things, to: Talk to each other before making major budget decisions Protect critical services to the public and businesses as far as possible by redesigning services across organisational boundaries and achieving savings through sharing strategies, resources and budgets Preventing the cumulative effect of decisions affecting some communities or groups in society disproportionately This agreement arose from the county's cross-sector leadership programme which has brought together public, business, civil society and third sector leaders to focus on leadership of place. Beyond Total Place and a new architecture for delivery Total Place has shown that there are opportunities to go beyond coordination of budgets to collaborative planning, commissioning, procurement and delivery. This will require leaders and professional managers to be willing to let go of local self-interest in order to promote community interest. Having decided what outcomes are being sought, services must be redesigned to deliver the lowest cost, based on the premise that the existing architecture of institutional structures, ownership and funding will not work. A whole systems approach means everyone The public sector will be wise to include local business, community and third sectors. Third and community sector organisations in particular must be treated carefully – unilateral cuts to grant funding and contracts is not a clever or justifiable move, especially if the expectation is that these bodies will provide more services in the future. Duplication has to stop Total Place confirmed the duplication of effort and services between agencies. These simply cannot continue – the opportunity cost is less resources for key services. Strategic commissioning for place across agencies will also be essential. Subsidiarity principles will need to be applied to determine where commissioning is best handled: at county, district, community or household level for example. Joint procurement can lead to a better use of public sector financial power in the market place. This transition will not be easy, but it will be a dereliction of duty for local authorities and their partners to duck these difficult but necessary actions, however unpopular. The starting point has to be a shared vision and commitment to serve the people and businesses in an area and put them before self-interest – professional, personal or institutional. Leaders have to understand each other's objectives, constraints, governance arrangements and accountabilities and they have to build trust and confidence in each other. Collaboration betweenpublic sector agencies and the community, third and business sectors will be critical. John Tizard is director of the Centre for Public Service Partnerships, CPSP@LGiU