Unlocking local capacity – local authority entrepreneurship

Posted on February 20, 2012 by OPM

By Hywel Lloyd, OPM senior fellow.

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.

Across the country local authorities are engaged in massive change. On one hand they are seeking to balance budgets in light of significant changes to their central grant; on the other, they are looking to ‘unlock’ capacity that exists in their locality. This local capacity can take many forms. Continue reading →

A simple way to support migrant and refugee community organisations

Posted on February 17, 2012 by OPM

By Mohini Khanna, OPM researcher.

In my spare time, I volunteer with the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum (MRCF), based in west London. Set up almost 20 years ago, MRCF is a ‘user-led, community forum working to promote the rights of migrants and refugees in London’. One aspect of its work is to act as an umbrella organisation; as such it has a membership of over 40 migrant and refugee community organisations. Continue reading →

Simple but powerful: making community leadership work in practice

Posted on February 16, 2012 by OPM

By Phil Copestake, OPM principal.

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 →

Communities: As important as local government

Posted on August 23, 2011 by OPM

By Hywel Lloyd, OPM senior fellow

In the 18 August issue of the MJ, in the Whitehall – Inside View column, Mark Conrad thoughtfully highlights the importance of the communities strand of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) remit. Continue reading →

The Open Public Services White Paper: Citizens and consumers

Posted on August 9, 2011 by OPM

By Robin Clarke, OPM fellow

People’s relationship with public services has been an increasingly strong theme in public policy over the past 20 years or so. There is agreement across the political spectrum that the age of paternalistic one-size-fits-all public services has passed its sell-by date and we need to develop a different more appropriate approach with members of the public playing a more active role rather than just being passive recipients of services. Continue reading →

The power and the potential of social network analysis

Posted on July 27, 2011 by OPM

By Sarah Holloway, OPM senior researcher.

Since the RSA’s Connected Communities report last year, the buzz around social network analysis has continued to grow. Last week I attended a packed, beginners’ level workshop at Greenwich University, led by Professor Paola Tubaro, as part of this year’s Social Networks conference. On the back of that really interesting day, I want to share some thoughts on the value of this developing discipline. What potential benefits does social network analysis offer for public service and civil society research?

Continue reading →

Regeneration in the next decade: beyond bricks and mortar

Posted on July 26, 2011 by OPM

By Rob Francis, OPM associate fellow.

With a credit crunch, a recession, and now public sector spending cuts in train, most of the big, physical regeneration projects seen over the last 15 years have dried up. The local authorities, partners, regional and national agencies who were once sprucing up their neighbourhoods with new community centres, learning centres, children’s centres and the like no longer have the means to do so. Undoubtedly the impact of this will be a negative one in those areas crying out for better facilities.

But might that scarcity of resources also force us to get better at real, long-lasting social regeneration that goes beyond bricks and mortar? Continue reading →

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