Posts Tagged ‘Total Place’

A stitch in time – the right approach to local authority cuts

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

The impending comprehensive spending review is likely to mean more swingeing cuts across the board for local authorities.

How? Schemes such as PFI, LIFT and BSF have stalled as there is less enthusiasm for the ‘build now, pay more later’ philosophy and local authorities have been forced to examine more imaginative ways of achieving savings whilst still delivering services. The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has recently come up with an interesting list of 105 regulations, the abolition of which it reckons would result in savings of £200 million. Pretty impressive.

But for many authorities, it is likely that cuts in staff and, consultants will be the order of the day. Is that always right? Getting rid of swathes of people with valuable sector and organisational knowledge may mean that expensive mistakes are made. The financial impact of, for example more procurement challenges and litigation, coupled with supplier favoured contracts could more than wipe out savings made today.

Posted by Sharon Jones, who specialises in joint ventures,complex commercial agreements, projects and competition law (including public procurement, state aid); clients : local authority, health, governmental, private sector bodies.

Sharon Jones

Sharon Jones
0115 976 6284
sjones@brownejacobson.com

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Public sector cuts – rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

GP groups have branded NHS Direct’s plans to decentralise by having at least 100 of its staff working from home by March 2011 as “rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic” given the IT infrastructure investment required.

Currently, taxpayers are broadly accepting of cuts however, if planned savings do not materialise because costs are being shifted rather than cut, it is unlikely that this tolerance will continue.

It is essential that cuts are strategically planned with a view to achieving the planned efficiencies subject to the outcome of the comprehensive spending review due in the Autumn. A failure to do this could see the ‘deckchairs’ go down with the ship!

Mark Blois

Posted by Laura Hughes
0115 976 6582
lhughes@brownejacobson.com

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Does bigger mean better? Potentially

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

David Cameron launched the Conservative vision of a ‘Big Society’ as a central part of their election campaign earlier this year and this week announced the second wave of the NHS strand of this initiative – the Right to Request.

The Right to Request allows primary care staff the right to request to set up social enterprises and this week’s announcement includes 15 new projects which range from increasing access to psychological therapies, improving end of life care and a wider range of children services.

In an era with an increased focus on choice and effective commissioning this move has the potential to encourage the development of projects based on local knowledge. It is conceivable that this in turn may initiate different and new ways of providing personalised health and social care services which deliver greater quality and value for money and support the continued integration of these care pathways from the bottom up.

Emily Birkett

Posted by Emily Birkett
0121 237 3934
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com

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And then there was light!

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

There is widespread recognition that local authorities need to be at the forefront of the implementation of community sustainability measures to save energy, reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

Too many organisations seem to be re-inventing the wheel concentrating on policies without showing demonstrable improvements in environmental performance.

The austerity period now to be endured means that for the first time there is increased pressure upon the effective achievement of sustainability measures.

Innovative local authorities will adopt a Total Place approach to identifying new resources by examining their current assets and capital to design effective sustainability measures which can be introduced in their area.

However, few local authorities have embraced the need to implement community sustainability measures to date. Now that the focus on providing public services for less has been put firmly in the spotlight it will be interesting to see whether local authorities will embrace this step change in the short or long term.

Richard Barlow

Posted by Richard Barlow
0115 976 6208
rbarlow@brownejacobson.com

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The first cut is the deepest

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

The Coalition’s emergency budget has given the clearest indication yet of the true extent of the funding cuts the public sector can expect with the announcement that around 80% of the debt reduction plans will be funded by public sector cuts. The scale and scope will be known at the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

And this is where the Total Place agenda has the potential to deliver.

With substantially smaller budgets the most successful local authorities are likely to see the cuts as an opportunity to achieve more visible outcomes and greater value for money from the services they commission.

The key to achieving this will be the effective identification of local priorities followed by the development of bespoke new service models (in partnership with other public sector organisations) which are designed to support the effective delivery of targeted services without compromising quality.

The effect of these cuts may be deep but with Total Place there is certainly scope to engage in a successful transition to services commissioned within a Total Place framework whilst minimising the pain of the proposed cuts.

Melanie Print

Posted by Melanie Print
0121 237 4582
mprint@brownejacobson.com

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What a Pickle we are in!

Friday, June 11th, 2010

So Eric Pickles has abolished the Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS), allowing local planning authorities (LPAs) a greater say in delivering local development and meeting their own housing need. It will also be open to them to work with the Improvement Bodies, such as the RDA’s, HCA’s and local RSL’s to improve delivery of development and in particular housing.

This policy decision would appear to accord with the localisation and Total Place agenda.  However, the difficulty is there is no framework for LPAs to work within in terms of identifying the development that it should be bringing forward. Its success relies on LPAs being committed to deliver development and identifying those areas which are a priority. A lack of commitment on their part means local areas will suffer in terms of delivery of development. Therefore for Total Place to work within the planning sphere, surely the RSS must be replaced to ensure that development is achieved at the necessary levels?

Tom Edwards

Posted by Tom Edwards
0115 976 6560
tedwards@brownejacobson.com

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Total Place – councils need clarity over new powers

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Opinions may vary about Total Place, but in light of the full coalition agreement and impending announcement of the emergency budget (expected 22nd June) there can be no dispute about two fundamental points – funding in the public sector will tighten over the medium term, and public sector organisations will need to give immediate thought to developing innovative service delivery which will deliver effective long-term savings.

The Conservative manifesto pledged that they would give local authorities a “general power of competence”, making it absolutely clear that local authorities have the power to take any step that will help save money from the public purse. This has made it into the coalition agreement but what is now needed is clarification as to how this power will operate. Without it progress is likely to be slow and local authorities could be forgiven for proceeding with caution following the recent ruling that the formation of the London Authorities Mutual Limited was illegal.

Chris Webb-Jenkins

Posted by Chris Webb-Jenkins
0115 976 6175
cwebb-jenkins@brownejacobson.com

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Striking the right balance

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Much has been made of the Conservatives views on localism. The only problem is to many of us localism brings to mind The League of Gentleman’s horrific Royston Vasey with all of the prejudice and small minded self interest that goes with a society so wrapped up in its own interests.

One of the potentially most powerful tools to give a local community the ability to really change their environment is Total Place, an idea launched by the outgoing Labour government.

Some will see Total Place as a vehicle for making necessary cuts in public spending but it could be so much more, allowing communities greater control in how services can be delivered more effectively and efficiently.

Before the election the Conservatives endorsed Total Place. Last week the full coalition agreement outlined a commitment to greater decentralisation. To achieve effective devolution of budgets and power at the same time as developing the Total Place initiative will require the Coalition to ensure it strikes the right balance between giving local communities a real say in their region and ensuring that the right decisions are made even if they may be unpopular.

Dominic Swift

Posted by Dominic Swift
0115 976 6148
dswift@brownejacobson.com

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Total Place: Con-Dem (ned)?

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Following days of extensive political wrangling this morning sees the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats celebrate a historic new partnership and signifies the start to a significant shake up in the way public services are delivered as the new coalition Government announces the acceleration of £6bn of public spending cuts.

Prior to the General Election both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats publicly declared their commitment to supporting the development of further integration between public sector organisations.

Whether the new Government will choose to achieve these cuts by building on the Total Place agenda developed by Labour over the last twelve months, which supports a ‘whole system approach’ to the commissioning and delivery of public services, or whether it will seek to attain short term savings without realising any widespread public sector reform remains to be seen. What is clear is that change is on the horizon and it’s likely to be big.

Emily Birkett

Posted by Emily Birkett
0121 237 3934
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com

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Total Place – hanging by a thread?

Friday, May 7th, 2010

The Total Place agenda developed by Labour over the last 12 months hangs in the balance following last nights General Election as Whitehall comes to terms with the reality of implementing such wide scale public sector reform where no political party holds an overall majority.

The Total Place agenda aims to take a ‘whole system’ approach to commissioning and delivering public services. Prior to the General Election the three main political parties all publicly declared their commitment to supporting the development of further integration between public sector organisations.

With impending and significant budget cuts looming the question now is not a case of when, but how the parties will reconcile their policies, and agree on a joint approach to progressing the public sector reform agenda.

Emily Birkett

Posted by Emily Birkett
0121 237 3934
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com

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