This blog is based on my recent article published in the MJ

Never has the need for local government service delivery teams to have a commercialisation strategy been more apparent than at present.

With diminishing budgets and rising demand, the prophets of doom are generating graphs of financial Armageddon, so should councils run up the White flag and start to close down everything other than statutory services? Of course they shouldn’t. The public want and need local government to provide the range of services that make the quality of their lives bearable, especially in such tough times.

So how do we reduce the gap in finances to achieve some semblance of a managed transformation? For me it’s about pursuing efficiencies to the absolute to eradicate any systemic waste, it’s about managing the demands and expectations of citizens, it’s about being innovative and creative with opportunities and it’s about raising income to offset budget reductions and hold together the capacity to continue to provide services.

If councils take a balanced and proportionate response based on these principles then they will continue to play a meaningful role in local communities, which will ensure that they are able to contribute significantly to tackling the major public policy challenges of the day on their behalf.

Efficiency and demand management have had considerable coverage recently, perhaps income generation and innovation less so. This is not about soaking the public for ever greater charges for services but it is about seeking out new revenue streams from partner organisations, which link to areas of corporate strategy and public need.

Some authorities are utilising the new homes bonus to build new housing units and generate a revenue stream through rental income, whilst tackling chronic housing shortages. Others are using public health budgets to enhance the contribution that their leisure services make to supporting active lifestyles. Many have used feed in tariffs in their various guises to create renewable energy projects which help tackle climate change, fuel poverty and contribute to the short, mid and long term financial strategy of the council. Similar to this others are pursuing funding that exists for energy efficiency projects which the big energy suppliers are only too willing to part with for their own reasons.

APSE’s recent research on Municipal Entrepreneurship clearly identified that commercial acumen exists within local government and the roles of catalysts, stewards, mediators and deliverers are prevalent amongst the ranks. What are you doing to identify who the innovators and entrepreneurs are in your organisation or service and mould the commercial team and strategy required for these tough times?

APSE's latest research shows how local authorities can take a lead in ensuring the lives of a generation of young people are not blighted by long-term unemployment.

Our new report, 'Tackling youth unemployment: Local authorities leading the response', looks at what councils are already doing to address youth unemployment and ways in which this role could be extended. With more than one in five 16-24 year olds out of work, it maps what is happening on the ground and calls for central government to recognise the strategic leadership role of local authorities and invest the necessary funding to enable them to fulfil this important role.

The report is based on research carried out as part of APSE's Knowledge Transfer Partnership with De Montfort University. It examines the problem of youth unemployment in authorities across the UK and presents the findings of a national survey of local government activities to tackle this issue, along with case studies.

Key findings from the research include:

·         94% of respondents recognised youth unemployment as a problem locally

·         91% said it had got worse in the past five years

·         91% believe they could contribute to tackling youth unemployment

·         73% had a strategic plan to tackle youth unemployment

·         70% are facilitating work experience

·         80% are providing in-house apprenticeship schemes

·         40% are inserting social benefit clauses into contracts to promote local employment

·         34% are creating entry level jobs

In my view youth unemployment is one of the most pressing issues of our time and local government has a fundamental role in leading initiatives to tackle it. Our research clearly demonstrates that in many parts of the country councils are already taking up the challenge of ensuring that the life chances of a generation of young people do not become blighted by long-term unemployment. This report suggests further steps that can be taken at local and national level.

The report draws upon APSE's 'ensuring council' model to show councils have capacity to achieve four vital tasks:

·         Convening – advocating and campaigning for action through forging coalitions with the local business community and recognised trade unions.

·         Co-ordination – developing a joined up response to tackling youth unemployment by linking a range of information and funding sources.

·         Collaboration – working with a range of local partners and employers, for example through financially incentivising the recruitment of

      young people by other local employers.

·         Custodian – using core capacity to actively provide and support employment opportunities

Examples of local initiatives to respond to youth unemployment cited in the report include:

·         City and County of Swansea Council's ‘Keeping in Touch’ scheme to provide targeted support to pupils who may be at risk of leaving school at 16 without a qualification.

·         South Ayrshire's Work Out! initiative to enhance employability amongst young people through work experience, and vocational training.

·         Cheshire East Council's ‘A-Team’ apprenticeship scheme to give young people the opportunity to obtain qualifications while gaining experience in a range of council services.

Local government has been facing tough times for a number of years now and yet the longer austerity rolls on, the more demand on services grows.

Housing, social care, school meals and leisure are among the many services facing up to this challenging phenomenon of more demand with less resources whilst trying to balance budgets.

So what's the answer? Is it being more efficient, being more innovative or generating more income? Well it's probably a combination of all these things. But a degree of demand management also needs to be added to the mix.

Demand management is not just about changing behaviour among service users, but also about intervening earlier to avoid demand actually occurring. It's about providing wraparound services to allow people to stay in their homes longer or promoting healthy eating and physical activity to improve public health.

How are councils tackling the thorny issue of demand management on the front-line then? In many areas, we are seeing approaches that prompt behaviour change, for example zero tolerance messages on littering and fly-tipping that make this behaviour publicly unacceptable. Councils are also encouraging ‘DIY’ solutions, such as placing more self-use grit bins in streets to combat demands on winter gritting services for non-priority routes.

Demand analysis can also be used to explore peaks and troughs for specific services and staff rosters can be aligned with targeting of resources to reduce the overall resources needed. This has been happening for a number of years in grounds maintenance and parks services, for example, where seasonal demand is aligned with annualised hours to enable reduced demand in winter to be balanced with increased human resources in summer.

There are, of course, sensitivities in using a demand led approach to review services and it may entail tough decisions in some cases. Reviewing eligibility in social care may be necessary, for example, to reduce demand whilst protecting the most vulnerable service users.

Residents, employees and trade unions need to be involved in making demand led changes to services. But aligning demand and resources more coherently can secure the future of jobs and services in the longer term.

There is a huge difference between managing demand and simply leaving residents to get on with things on an ad hoc basis. Effective demand management requires a strategic approach and communication about what the council is doing and why. It may mean looking at budgets in a more long term way, shifting resources around and investing to save.

Demand management is not necessarily easy but, with funding in such short supply, it is necessary.

Viewed with suspicion by some, belittled by others, derided by the media both locally and nationally, over worked and underpaid. For some a wider career ending move with little reward at the end, with even the possibility of a small pension set to be removed by Ministers.

Managing a significant but diminishing budget, making cuts to services the vulnerable rely on and staff redundant, it’s all in a day’s work in the current economic environment.

But who else is there to make the tough choices that need to be made and tackle the major public policy decisions facing society at a local level. That’s why the public elect you because they don’t want the responsibility of making the impossible choices that exist when you are rationing scarce resources.

Having worked in local government for a very long time I can honestly say that the vast majority of Councillors are hard-working, honest, genuine people who are involved in public service because they believe they are making a difference for the people who live in their communities.

The recent report ‘Councillors on the frontline’ and the reaction to it unfortunately didn’t surprise me. Why when MP’s are currently negotiating increases to their own terms and conditions is the suggestion that locally elected representatives who invest a huge amount of time and energy on the public’s behalf, for a fraction of the pay, met with such an outcry?

If we truly believe in local democracy then surely it’s in all our interests to widen the talent pool interested in being our elected representatives. In order to do so we need to have a decent level of remuneration.

It saddens me to say that at present it doesn’t appear to be that appetising a prospect to become a Councillor.

More and more councils are emphasising the development of commercial strategies and skills in order to hold services together and give them a fighting chance in the current age of austerity.

Some commentators may view local government, innovation and entrepreneurship as unlikely bedfellows. But I see evidence all over country that a commercial culture is expanding and flourishing amongst council staff.

As budget cuts bite, managers are looking to alternative forms of income generation to offset reductions and spread overheads. APSE’s recent State of the Market survey on parks and grounds maintenance showed, for example, that 82% of authorities are looking at reconfiguring charges, with 38% selling services to the private sector and 46% to other public bodies. Whilst some decorative work and general maintenance may reduce due to austerity measures, these services are adapting and innovating to survive.

Stockton Council has drawn in almost £2m over the past few years from a diverse range of funders to support its parks regeneration programme. Wakefield is sharing specialist quad bikes with police partners. Sefton has received over £400,000 from the PCT to create outdoor gyms. Nottingham has acquired £3m lottery funding. Lewisham has used a mobile app to increase its trade waste income. And Tower Hamlets has made one of its top park facilities available for hire for weddings, civil partnerships and children's birthday parties.

So where are these public sector entrepreneurs? APSE’s recent research with De Montfort University on ‘Municipal Entrepreneurship’ found they exist across every authority. They fall into four broad categories. Catalysts scan for new opportunities, understanding the value of innovation and entrepreneurship. They are normally chief executives, senior or operational managers. Stewards are convenors who ensure collaboration and interaction to allow creative thinking. We found elected members, senior and area management teams playing this role. Mediators manage and resolve conflicts in the process, arbitrating between different stakeholders. They are normally operational managers or elected members. A fundamental fourth role was also identified, that of Deliverers, who focus on outcomes and improvements in service delivery. Deliverers can be senior management focusing on the bottom line, project managers or senior executives ensuring financial gain, or elected members trying to protect services for communities.

Many authorities have already begun to develop commercial strategy and skills. Chief executives will be ensuring that they continue to foster and develop this culture at corporate and service level if they wish to encourage the creativity necessary to offset budget cuts and become more self-sufficient financially.

This article is based on a recent column I did for MJ magazine.

This article is based on a recent column I did for the MJ magazine.

What will local government look like in 2020? My answer is that it will depend significantly on what elected members and officers want it to look like and the policy choices they make.

Whilst I accept that central government decisions will always have an impact in shaping local government, it is members and officers, in conjunction with the local public, who will decide what the political vision for an area is, what outcomes are pursued to achieve this and how this is implemented through the services the council is responsible for providing and delivering.

By 2020, hopefully the country will have moved beyond the age of austerity and the significant funding crisis faced by local authorities at present. In APSE we are debating ideas about how local government can become more self-confident, more self-reliant and more self-sufficient. Our model 'the ensuring council' continues to develop and gain traction.

What does an ensuring council look like? Well it is leaner but not hollowed out. It retains the ability to respond to the public policy issues of the day because it continues to have the capacity that allows it too. It is the steward of place by playing an active role, both directly and indirectly, in the local economy. It also maintains democratic accountability over the area and ensures a fair distribution of resources by promoting social justice. The ensuring council is an active community leader not a passive bystander allowing others to ration its resources and make decisions based on profitability not local priorities.

When we face the huge public policy challenges of today and tomorrow on local economic growth, climate change, housing need, youth unemployment, elderly care, public health and welfare reform, should local government have the ability to respond or should it be a creature so emasculated of capacity that it merely stands aside and watches as others force market solutions on local communities? In APSE we believe that communities deserve something better, we need a model for local government that ensures that current and future public policy challenges are met and solutions are found.

At present it’s about staying calm and carrying on, it’s about developing a balanced and proportionate response. It’s about efficiency, innovation and income generation. It’s about developing solutions and adapting to change. It’s your time, a time for political vision and leadership, a time for professional officers to develop and implement strategy, a time to engage the public, a time to harness the energy of the workforce and lead them on a journey to a new model of public services that is fit for the future.

Someone who has influenced my thinking on local government greatly over the past couple of decades has this week published a new book, 'A Guide to Solar PV Projects - in Local Government and the Public Sector'. The first books of Stephen Cirell's that I read were thick local government law encyclopaedias around Compulsory Competitive Tendering, followed by similar tomes on Best Value, then the Private Finance Initiative and Charging and Trading. So how does someone go from this background into the arena of climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency? And do they know anything about the topic?

For the past three or four years Steve has been studying this area extensively and following a year working for Cornwall Council as Director of Green Peninsula, he came 'back up North' and begun working on a range of renewable energy projects, mainly for APSE, around Solar, Wind, Biomass and Electric Fleet. When most stood back and prevaricated around Solar, Steve was shouting about 'early mover advantage' and evangelising that local authorities should 'fill their boots' before the Feed In Tariff's were inevitably cut. Some did, but many hesitated and lost the initial opportunity. Steve's book now revisits the proposition of Solar PV for Local Government and the Public Sector and finds that due to the drop in price on PV panels it stacks up financially once again. However, if it was only about money then it would be a fairly shallow proposition. It's also about community leadership, energy security, carbon benefits, effectiveness and efficiency, and wider economic benefits.

Steve is someone who has always been slightly ahead of the local government curve and I believe that his new book and the subsequent ones on other forms of renewable energy, will prove to be a sound investment for those who believe that local government has a key role to play in micro generation of energy, energy efficiency and tackling issues such as fuel poverty, which blights many of the poorest families in our communities.

Connaught, Rok, Southern Cross, Mouchel, IBM in local government, not to mention wider public sector outsourcing problems with A4E and G4S- there really is a lengthening list of problems with outsourced contracts.

And then there are those contracts that are quietly ended ‘by mutual agreement’ to avoid costly legal action, saving reputations, but often masking serious problems.

Eight steps to becoming a greener council

Firstly, there needs to be political buy in at the highest level. This is about the Council leading on tackling one of the biggest public policy issues of our time; it requires political vision, commitment and leadership.

Secondly, you need to do an audit of the local area, what natural assets are at your disposal will depend which strands of renewables or energy efficiency measures are most appropriate.

Thirdly, you need to develop an all encompassing climate change strategy, which should spell out the Councils intentions for the next ten or twenty years. This should seek to balance energy efficiency and renewables, with the financial returns generated by the latter helping to fund work on the former.

Fourthly, get corporate management team buy in for this by making an economic case rather than an environmental one. This can be built around the economic cost of doing nothing and the financial, social, economic and environmental benefits of being proactive on this agenda.  The green strategy must link with the mid to long term corporate financial strategy of the Council.

Fifthly, it is important that the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive communicate their commitment to this and announce their intentions in a vision statement.

Sixthly, get early win green projects by focusing on areas that are less complex and where visible benefits will emerge early. An example of this would be solar, once this has proven successful more complex projects such as wind will achieve a better hearing.

Seventhly, implement quickly once a direction has been agreed, rather than continuously over analysing, like any strategy success will breed success.

Finally, communication is key at every stage of this, a compelling case can be made for a greener council, the public deserve to be made aware of this and continually informed on progress.