LGEM SOCITM Autumn Seminar Local government response to Varney

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LGEM SOCITM Autumn SeminarLocal government
response to Varney

• Siobhan Coughlan
• 20 November 2007

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Agenda

• Key Policy drivers 2007/8
• Local Government Act, Chapter 7
• Service Transformation Agreement- post Varney
  Review
• CSR 07
• And learning from local government
• Front Office Shared Services project
• Local Government Delivery Council

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• We cannot leave public services as they were,
  we must build them around the personal
  aspirations of the individual.
• Gordon Brown MP, speech to Labour Party
  Conference 2006
• We must be relentlessly customer-focused. Many
  people want a single point of contact for a range
  of services. The public are not interested in
  whether their needs are met by department X or
  agency Y, they want a good joined-up service
  where X and Y talk to each other and share
  information to meet this demand.
• Sir Gus ODonnell, Cabinet Secretary

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Policy context for Local Authorities
Local Government Act
Lyons Review
New Performance Framework
Community empowerment
Varney Review
LGA Closer to people and places
Service Transformation Agreement
CSR 07
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Drivers for Service Transformation

• Local Government Act LAA, MAA
• LGR and Two Tier Pathfinders reorganisation of
  local services
• Local Government new performance framework 198
  PIs and CAA
• CRS 07 efficiency savings 3 p.a.
• Service Transformation Agreement Varney Review
• Customer expectations!

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• The Local Government Act

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The Local Government Act

• To meet this challenge, all councils must adopt
  a strategic approach to service delivery. Our
  proposal to strengthen the strategic
  commissioning role for councils will ensure that
  they start from an understanding of the needs and
  preferences of users, adopt best practice in
  service design, assess the full range of service
  delivery options, and implement optimal solutions
  that balance quality and value for money.
• Chapter 7, Efficiency - Transforming Local
  Services

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Local authorities as convenors
PCT
Police
Regional Government
Central Government
Local Government
Private Sector
Third Sector
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Locally delivered services

• Local services are changing, expectations are
  rising, duty to involve
• Local services delivered within a local framework
  and existing partnerships, e.g. LSP, LAA and MAA
• Local partners are increasingly working
  voluntarily together to meet complex needs of
  customers (e.g. shared services)
• CAA - new performance framework to increase
  accountability, focusing more on local
  priorities, citizens, service users and
  taxpayers interests

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• The Varney Review

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The Varney review

• Service transformation A better service for
  citizens and businesses, a better deal for the
  taxpayer
• November 2006
• Sir David Varney was asked by the Chancellor to
  advise him on the opportunities for transforming
  the delivery of public services. His Service
  Transformation review looks at how the channels
  through which services are delivered can be made
  more efficient and responsive to the needs of
  citizens and businesses.

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Key challenges

• Understanding shared customers using customer
  insight, to re organise and deliver services
• Joining up related services, provided by
  different organisations, around different
  customer groups
• Leveraging assets through sharing frontline and
  back offices
• Managing and sharing data across the partners to
  make it easier for the customer to carry out
  their transaction
• Exploiting technology as an effective tool
• Removing duplication and wastage to drive out
  efficiency savings through business process
  improvement

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• Service Transformation Agreement

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Service Transformation Agreement

• November 2007, Pre Budget Report CSR
• 30 new PSAs setting a vision for continuous and
  accelerated improvement in the Government's
  priority outcomes over the CSR07 period.
• The Government also published a Service
  Transformation Agreement, underpins delivery of
  the new PSA framework, setting out the
  Government's vision for building services around
  the citizen and businesses.

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Deliverables

• piloting a Tell Us Once service enabling
  citizens to inform public services just once
  about changes of circumstances
• rationalising the plethora of government websites
  
• requiring all publicly funded call-centres to
  undergo formal published accreditation
• reducing avoidable or duplicated contacts with
  call centres and local offices
• empowering individuals - greater opportunities
  direct involvement in how services designed
  delivered
• improving management of information and identity
  across the Government services

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Front Office Shared Services
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FOSS Programme

• CLG, Cabinet Office, LGA and IDeA research
  programme
• To identify and showcase local government's
  achievements in transforming local public
  services
• Exemplar projects - redesign local public
  services around the needs and preferences of
  citizens
• Shared front office partnership and
  collaborative arrangements, e.g. one-stop shops,
  contact centres, web portals and mobile services.
  
• Front office projects that demonstrate how
  customer need is driving local public sector
  service transformation

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Criteria for FOSS projects

• Projects that demonstrate a local authority a
  leading role in coordinating public service
  agencies
• with the aim of delivering an improved outcome
  for the local area and/or for a particular
  customer group
• meeting citizen needs and preferences more
  effectively
• by sharing delivery infrastructure and
  standardising operational practice
• Identifying and delivering efficiency savings

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Outputs of the research

• Contacted all English LAs inviting them to
  participate
• 50 initial submissions, long list of 26, final 16
  projects participated in detailed research
• Main report, 'delivering public sector
  transformation' and Executive Briefing, new
  designs for public services-delivering better
  outcomes and 16 detailed case studies
  www.idea.gov.uk/foss
• Two day conference, to help set the national
  policy agenda and share good practice

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FOSS Projects

• Dorset for You a single web portal for the
  citizens of Dorset
• Northumbria 101- single number for a range of non
  emergency services
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
  Councils Connect series of OSS including self
  service kiosks
• London ReportIT - a pan-London service to report
  street related problems via the 'Your London' web
  site
• South Yorkshire e_at_sy connects - access to
  services from a broad range of agencies over the
  web, digital TV and mobile telephones
• Kent Gateway - multi-agency service in Ashford
  that delivers public and voluntary services in a
  retail environment
• www.idea.gov.uk/foss

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Key factors for success

• Clear Leadership political managerial
• Agreed shared vision across partners outcomes
  focused on customers
• Understanding the needs engagement of customers
• Engaging staff particularly frontline staff
• Partnership working governance arrangements
• Exploiting technology sharing infrastructure
• Project management process
• Innovation creativity!

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• Local Government Delivery Council

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Background

• Post LGOL programme a voice for local
  government
• Commissioning of the Varney Review opportunity
  for LG to highlight good practice as well as
  barriers
• Front Office Shared Services project real
  innovation at a local level
• Support and expertise for local government
  representatives on the Delivery Council

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Objectives

• By local government, for local government
• Principal interface between central and local
  government and the local government family
• Provide strategic leadership to sector to fulfils
  its role in driving local service transformation
• Be a collective voice for the sector to influence
  national policy
• Mirror and co-ordinate with Cabinet Offices
  Delivery Council on the Transformational
  Government agenda
• Facilitating effective support to councils e.g.
  good practice
• Highlight opportunities barriers to drive
  service transformation

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LGA
Cabinet Office
IDeA
Improvement Board
Delivery Council
LGDC
CEX Taskforce
RIEPs
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Deliverables

• Work with key stakeholders LGA, CLG Cabinet
  Office to jointly develop the vision work
  programme across CRS07
• To coordinate the activities of the principal
  local government agencies around service
  transformation
• To highlight and share emerging good practice,
  raise problems, issues and identify gaps in
  capacity
• To coordinate the links with other key agencies
  around local government transformation,
• To advise on the assignment of leadership of
  projects to specific local authorities
• To act as a point of reference and to offer input
  to such initiatives (e.g. the Tell us once
  project) as they develop

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LGDC Representatives

• 13 Local authority representatives from all
  regions, tiers, urban rural LAs (links with
  RIEPs professional bodies)
• Chaired by Janet Callender, CEX Tameside MBC and
  one of the local government representatives on
  the Delivery Council
• Local government stakeholders, LGA, IDeA, CLG
• Central government departments, DWP, DH
• Third Sector
• National Consumer Council
• Private Sector - tba

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Programme of activities

• National Projects - Public Sector Asset Review,
  DWP Tell us Once, LGR Two Tier Pathfinders
• Best Practice engagement FOSS conference May
  08, Beacons, benchmarking, knowledge CoPs,
  national regional networks and events
• Performance management CAA, LG PIs, Contact
  councils measures
• Tools Enablers data sharing, Gov Connects,
  ESD Toolkit, Customer Insight address
  formatting