Delivering Innovation and Efficiency!

Progressive austerity appears to be the message on public finances for the foreseeable future. In local government this translates to reducing costs or cutting services in order to pay for the sins of the bankers.

For those who have been in local government over the last few decades this is not exactly a new phenomenon. From the mid-1970s onwards every few years another government financial crisis appears, often originating from another source; from the International Monetary Fund intervention to CCT and from Black Wednesday to Gershon.

And as much as we can blame others for all of this, the reality is that the public sector has rapidly become the media whipping boy once again.

There is much talk of incremental improvement being exhausted with innovation and step change being the only solution. But is this really true? Or is it a convenient truth for those who stand to prosper from alternative forms of service delivery?

My view is that creating an environment in which efficiency and continuous improvement flourish will allow a culture of innovation to develop. It will also place local authorities in pole position to lead other public sector agencies in the total place agenda. So what might this environment look like?

Firstly, there needs to be a focus on good local performance management data. Not centrally driven targets, but meaningful useful information that identifies a baseline of performance which can be scrutinised for competitiveness and challenged by both elected members and local people.

Phase two is about process benchmarking with others to identify who has outstanding performance at present then examining how to get to that standard or level of efficiency.

This can be done in a variety of ways, but the management tools and techniques associated with systems thinking approaches could prove a useful start rather than simply attempting to replicate others.

Involving staff from all levels of the organisation from the outset in this process will help spread the message and build ownership of the solutions.

Having untangled staff from the organisational straitjacket of the past, you are now into level three where innovation can flourish. Transformational service redesign can take place by eradicating waste and bureaucracy and enabling such innovations as the co-production in service delivery we have seen in recycling and waste minimisation over the past few years.

This has encouraged residents to take more responsibility for their actions while having greater input into service design and allowed more to be done for less.Of course it may prove easier to achieve the benefits created by such an environment if you have retained control of your own destiny.

For councils locked into long-term contracts, it is likely to be someone else who reaps the rewards.

Leave politics to the politicians!

I was quite surprised in more ways than one at the weekend to read the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission, Steve Bundred's comments suggesting a pay freeze for public sector workers as an answer to the current gap in public sector finances.

Firstly it seems a bit strange that in a week where we have the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, praising local government for its record breaking efficiency savings we have the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission suggesting that as a reward for this the staff should receive a real terms cut in their pay.

My second observation is that as an independent watchdog the Audit Commission is getting into debates that are beyond its brief. I think the Commission has a key role to play in ensuring transparency and accountability in public services, it's politicisation would be a real shame.

Knives, Forks and Awards!

Attend MJ awards dinner this evening at the Hilton Park Lane and it's a real pleasure to see some of the hardest working staff in local government get the recognition their achievements deserve.

The room is packed with around 1,000 people present. I am fortunate to be seated front centre at Deputy Editor of the MJ, Heather Jameson's table. To my right is Efficiency Guru and Chief Executive of Lewisham, Barry Quirk and to my left is Chief Executive of the LGIU, Andy Sawford.

New Communities Minister John Denham gives some opening comments, which are well received by the audience. Huw Edwards of the BBC presents the awards.

Needless to say a good time is had by all, but most importantly is the celebrations that hopefully take place at authorities all over the UK when news filters back of the success of all those recognised at the awards.

To efficiency and beyond!

My speech from the Guardian Conference – Northern Ireland 09

Delivering in the downturn: driving efficiency, securing cost savings and expanding services through the innovative use of ICT – A big topic for someone to cover in 5 minutes but for someone originally from the West of Scotland it should allow for about 10,000 words.

The challenge we face: With public borrowing reaching £175b this year and due to slowly fall over the next 4 years to £97b then it is inevitable that public sector spending is going to fall. In real terms this could mean budget cuts of anything between 6% and 15% over this period. If we are going to continue to deliver effective public services then it means changing the way we do things.

The good news is the Government see the sector you work in as the answer to this huge economic problem. All things electronic and digital are now in vogue when it comes to transformation and efficiency. The day before this year’s budget the chancellor received a report from 5 gurus, called the Operational Efficiency Programme, which places the responsibility of saving the U.K. economy from financial Armageddon in the hands of I.T. managers. I looked out of my office window at Joe, APSEs 24 year old I.T. manager, with his hair flowing beyond his shoulders, glasses and motorhead t-shirt and thought an unlikely hero – but I am willing to believe.

The OEP suggests back office cuts of £4b in 3 years or 20 to 25% of current expenditure. Plus a further £3b by benchmarking and reviews. Then a further £7.7b of savings by joint procurement of I.T., goods and services by 2013/14.

Now some of you may be starting to think of me as a cynic by this point but this is not the case. I have seen the massive progress made by introducing technology in the sector I work in, local government, over the past 5 or 10 years as a result of APSEs annual service awards and our work generally.

I have seen one stop shops introduced to make services more accessible and more co-ordinated for citizens.

I have seen housing repairs improved by using handheld technology to cut the steps in the service delivery chain from 13 to 4 or 5.

I have seen refuse collection and recycling services improved dramatically by the use of handhelds, mobile tracking and monitoring aids and this has helped achieve 50%recycling in some areas.

And in this particular area it points to another great challenge that I.C.T. can help meet, climate change. I believe that the impact of the carbon reduction commitment will focus many people’s minds on service redesign or they will face the financial consequences.

It is not only in my sector that I see the electronic transformation taking place. I recently read some figures about the Department of Work and Pensions where they are claiming £50m of savings already, rising to £100m.

13m people are now buying car tax online.

2.7m have now booked a driving test online.

15m people per month are using Directgov online.

And 10 people per second are filing a tax return online – you would think somebody should have told our MPs that it’s not that difficult.

Before I get too carried away, one plea please, to not forget those who are technologically excluded. I was at a recent dinner with the Chair of Consumerwatch Scotland who pointed out that 40% of citizens don’t own computers. So let’s not exclude unintentionally some of those who need public services the most.

Some of the answers must lie in joined up and better co-ordinated public services. The Total Place project in England at present identified that Cumbria spends £7b across its public services and I believe that the boundaries within the sector will disappear and shared services will become the norm.

The 32 London Boroughs are also working on an ongoing basis on a 5 year plan to share services and procure supplies more effectively. They aim to this by redeploying staff and using natural wastage to avoid any unnecessary redundancies.

In conclusion, I guess the future depends on whether you are a glass half full or a glass half empty type of person. Of course we face massive financial and economic challenges but we also have an opportunity to revolutionise public service delivery. In my view it’s a challenge those of us in public services must embrace from within. Personally the alternative of mass outsourcing and swingeing cuts to services isn’t that palatable to me for one.

Thanks for listening.

A half hour debate then followed between a panel of four of us and the 170 strong audience.

Economy, efficiency and effectiveness

A busy few days for me on planet APSE with a seminar at City of Manchester Stadium on how local authorities can best respond to the challenges that the recession is throwing at them. We call it "Economy, efficiency and effectiveness", obvious I know but it's still the overarching best value duty placed on local authorities by the Local Government Act 1999.

The seminar goes well with some excellent contributions in the plenary sessions from Mike Chambers of the Government Office of the North West and Lee Heley, Head of Regeneration at the Audit Commission. They really set the scene for the day by outlining the key role local authorities have to play in helping local communities cope with and survive the current recession.

Ian Stephenson, from Derbyshire County Council, talked about some of the inhouse partnerships they have been running with other authorities and about how he has campaigned for people to 'stop doing stupid things'. Clare Hutley from Milton Keynes spoke about improvements the council has made by taking a value driven approach to service delivery, this has resulted in them taking the decision to insource their building cleaning service. Steve White gave an overview of improvements delivered as a result of an organisational development programme at Edinburgh City Council. Craig Willows, gave a presentation on how Stockton became one of the best authorities in the country for delivering on the care for your area agenda.

In the afternoon Neil McInroy from CLES and myself run a workshop on how local authorities can use community benefit clauses in procurement in order to maximize the benefit from their investments.

All in all a massive amount of food for thought on the steps local authorities can take to improve their performance and approach the 3 E's. The best practice demonstrated sent delegates away with a host of ideas.