Simple but powerful: making community leadership work in practice

Posted on February 16, 2012 by OPM

This is the latest in a series of posts in anticipation of new research from OPM about what local government can do to unlock local capacity. To find out more about the free evening seminar on Tuesday 21 February where the research will be launched, click here.

When looking to unlock the capacity of local communities, local councils find nothing is more fundamentally important than the language they use. This was one of the points that struck me most powerfully at a really excellent, wide-ranging debate last week at the RSA, to launch the 2020 Public Services Hub’s evaluation of Sunderland City Council’s community leadership programme.

In amidst thoughtful opinions offered by amassed luminaries including the RSA’s own Matthew Taylor and head of volunteering charity CSV Lucy de Groot, the leader and chief exec of Sunderland both made telling points based on their practical experience. Continue reading →

Putting public assets back in community hands

Posted on February 3, 2012 by OPM

By Robin Clarke, OPM fellow.

Reading the news this week about the Circle Partnership’s takeover of Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire it’s understandable that people might conclude that where a service is struggling the only viable alternative to public sector management is a solution involving significant private sector input. But in some cases community ownership can be the best answer.

Take the Battersea Arts Centre, for instance. A little while ago I was sitting there helping to facilitate an event about the future of health services in South West London. The venue had a ‘shabby chic’ feel to it and a cat (Pluto – on the staff list as Head of Security, Sleeping and Prowling) who strutted about checking everyone out. But I wondered if I was the only person at the event who was aware of the great transformation that had taken place there?

The Battersea Arts Centre is a shining example of how local people can take over the management of a public asset and not only save a service from possible closure, but also improve it. The building has been threatened with closure many times in its long history, but finally it seems to have found a sustainable future. Since taking over the asset the Centre has broadened its range of projects and seen an increasing number of visitors. Continue reading →

Releasing the talents of isolated older people

Posted on January 31, 2012 by OPM

By Clive Miller, OPM principal.

How can isolated older people be enabled to reconnect with and become active parts of their local communities again? Loss of a partner or increase in your own or your partner’s disability is often linked with a collapse of personal social networks. You can’t or don’t feel able to get out and about as before. Friends are diffident about contacting you. For older people in residential care this can be even more of an issue.

The usual answer to tackling isolation is to reach out to older people in their own homes through befriending services or enable them to come to social events. These are fine but they neglect the abilities of older people and the wish of many to be able to still help others and be a valued and active part of their communities.

There is a different approach: instead of starting with needs, focus on the assets that older people and the communities in which they live already possess. How can older people be enabled to make better use of them? This is the central question posed by the DWP / LGA Ageing Well programme. Continue reading →

What can ‘the beautiful game’ teach us about how to unlock local capacity?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by OPM

By Sarah McDonnell, OPM senior researcher, with an introduction from Phil Copestake, OPM principal.

At OPM we know that whatever councillors and officers in local government feel about ‘open public services’ and ‘the big society’, few disagree that with much less money available, local authorities must find a way of unlocking the energy and capacity of local people. Each council is tackling this in a different way.

On Tuesday 21st February we’ll be launching a report based on brand new research with councils across England. The report will give an in-depth, wide-ranging picture of the practical ways in which local authorities are going about the difficult but vital task of unlocking local capacity.

We’ve got a fantastic panel of speakers at the launch event, including the Mayor of Newham Robin Wales, Stuart Etherington from NCVO, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council Keith Mitchell, and Matthew Gott, a senior director from complex families pioneers Swindon. The seminar will be in the early evening, in Central London, and is free, but places are strictly limited. If you’re interested in coming then please email seminars@opm.co.uk.

In the run-up to the 21st February there will be lots of posts on this blog offering different perspectives on how best to unlock local capacity, from the point of view of councils, residents and communities themselves, and local voluntary groups. To kick things off (the first of many puns: you have been warned) we have OPM’s Sarah McDonnell asking: what can local councillors and officers learn from the leadership strategies of managers from the world of… Premier League football! Continue reading →

It’s time for community-led community cohesion

Posted on December 9, 2011 by OPM

By Ewan King, OPM director.

There are signals emanating from Government that we will shortly see the long awaited strategy on community integration and cohesion. This is good news, as there was a creeping sense of despair amongst some working in this field that the Government was going to abandon the commitment to this strategy completely.

Initial reports are sketchy but there is talk of a new cross-government strategy that will concentrate on four main areas:

A new drive against ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ in Britain and a recognition that anti-semitism is also growing.
Events to celebrate the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the Olympic Games that bring together different communities.
An online integration forum, which includes a ‘barrier-busting site’ to remove bureaucratic barriers and encourage different community and faith groups to come together.
An initiative to establish common ground with Gypsy and Traveller communities.

How these aims are governed, managed, delivered and measured locally is not yet known. However, if previous policies arising from this Government are anything to go by, we should not expect a detailed blueprint prescribed from the centre on how each and every element of this agenda will be delivered locally. Certainly, it is very unlikely that significant funding will be attached to this strategy. Continue reading →

Vital service for public sector mutuals re-launched

Posted on December 6, 2011 by OPM

By Phil Copestake, OPM’s head of communications.

For some time now we’ve been writing on this blog and elsewhere about the importance for new public sector mutuals of knowledge sharing, peer support and joining up access to relevant expertise. Yesterday there was really good news on this front, with the Government’s re-launch of the Mutuals Information Service (MIS).

The MIS brings together information, advice and guidance, including a new website to support individuals and teams who are looking to begin the journey, a new national hotline, and – perhaps most significantly – potential access to funding for bespoke professional support (the long-promised £10m Mutuals Support Programme). Continue reading →

Putting social value at the heart of new public sector mutuals

Posted on December 5, 2011 by OPM

By Linda Jackson, OPM associate fellow.

I recently attended a great event held by the Transition Institute to launch their publication on public service spin outs called, Towards a Social Value Ethos. The lively and challenging debate focused on the different things that need to happen in order to spin out public services into a different form of ownership. Whilst the paths, processes and duration of each transition are likely to vary from organisation to organisation, there are some commonalities that need to be in place for the journey to effectively take place. Continue reading →

Integrating health and social care: from principle to practice

Posted on November 22, 2011 by OPM

By Ayesha Janjua, OPM fellow.

Integration is a key part of the current health reforms; greater integration of health and social care features strongly in the Health and Social Care Bill. Last year’s health white paper argues that greater integration between these two spheres (and thus between the NHS and local authorities) will facilitate improved outcomes for service users and communities, contribute to efficient and sustainable services, enhance clinical leadership and support choice, control and self directed planning for individual service users, their carers and families.

That’s the theory, but how to make integration work in practice? OPM has recently been supporting local partners to think about integrated commissioning. This is linked to but different from integrated provision or service delivery – but in practice integrated commissioning is likely to naturally lead to integrated service delivery. Our work has thrown up some interesting lessons about how to get started and make integration sustainable. Continue reading →

From compliance to judgement: trusting more, controlling less

Posted on November 18, 2011 by OPM

By Sue Goss, OPM principal.

Local authorities – like many other public services – often struggle to move beyond the rhetoric when it comes to taking a common sense approach to managing risk. OPM’s recent work with the London Borough of Ealing provides an example of how turning the traditional ‘top down’ view of management upside down can help to identify practical steps to empower frontline staff.

Last week I was working with the Council’s Senior Leaders Forum – their top 80 or so managers – to think about the transition ‘From Compliance to Judgement’, or how a council like Ealing can shake off the sheer weight of bureaucracy and procedure that slows us down. The Munro Report has brought the issue back on the agenda – arguing that we have created compliance cultures that get in the way of good professional practice (Munro focused on children’s services, but the lessons hold across the piece). Ealing had a particularly good story to tell – about their ‘riot recovery’ work.

Continue reading →

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