small is beautiful / innovation from the frontline of local government #gov20

8/9/2019 Small is Beautiful / Innovation from the frontline of local government #gov20

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DISCUSSION PAPER

SMALL ISBEAUTIFULInnovation from the frontline

of local government

Glyn Gaskarth


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LGIU is the Local Government Inormation Unit, an

independent and inuential think tank and local authority

membership organisation.

This paper has been developed by LGIU to showcase thought

provoking work on innovation. The views are those o the

author and do not necessarily represent those o NESTA.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

EXECUTIVE

SUMMARY

In this pamphlet we prole ten innovative local projects ledby rontline sta and service teams in local government.Each has improved services in their area and provided

real benets or local communities, rom reducing oendingbehaviour to increasing social cohesion. It is possible toachieve much more o this type o radical improvement in localgovernment but only i we provide a new way to encourageand support local innovation by creating unds drawn romlocal discretionary spending.

Local authority expenditure amounts to one quarter o allpublic expenditure. The next ew years are going to be verytough or local government, given that the UK Governmentis seeking to identiy savings and eciencies to reduce thealmost 155 billion annual UK budget decit and because localauthorities are dependent on central government grants orthree-quarters o their unding.

The UK coalition Government announced 6.2 billion inimmediate public spending cuts in May 2010 (around 20 percent o which directly aect local government), and up to 25per cent reductions in unprotected departmental spending(amounting to 61 billion by 2014-15) in the emergency Budgetin June 2010. I the user and communities who rely on publicservices are not to be harmed, we will need to encourage andpromote much more innovation in service delivery to ensure

much cheaper but also much more eective services. Thispamphlet outlines a way that local authorities can lead theway in developing innovation in public services led by rontlineworkers and local service teams.


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Small is beautiul or innovation in local government

The diculties in innovating in local government are well-

known. They explain why a culture o innovation is notembedded in local government. The discretionary spend olocal authorities is limited, many o the drivers o private sectorinnovation are absent rom the public sector, and an emphasison compliance and procedure oten trumps the development onew approaches.

In July 2009, the Local Government Inormation Unit (LGiU)in co-operation with the Museums and Libraries Association

(MLA), LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators o RegulatoryServices) and the National Association o Local Councils(NALC) embarked on a project called Small is Beautiul. Theyasked local authorities to submit examples o non-statutoryprojects, operated by small teams on low budgets, which weremaking a decisive dierence to their local areas. Each projectneeded to save the council money, improve an existing serviceor deliver a new service.

By September 2009 almost two hundred projects hadsubmitted inormation. These came rom a variety o dierentlocal services, including museums, libraries, registrationservices, and sports and leisure services, and rom parishcouncils, county, district and metropolitan authorities aroundEngland.

This pamphlet highlights ten o these examples. Each o theprojects has provided real benets or its community:

Broadland provides a model or local authorities to tackleanti-social behaviour, and Middlesbrough has turneddangerous public spaces that were becoming a ocus orarson into pleasant community-maintained areas.

Blackburn Museum promotes social cohesion byhighlighting the sacrices shared across communities, whileEast Ridings citizenship ceremonies promote a sharedsense o British identity among school children.

Lancashire has extended their service provision to anew audience, utilising the library or community events;Winchester has harnessed new social media technology to

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4


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engage with new audiences and change the way its stawork.

Rochord has provided a orum or local small businesses tocompete with major companies on price, customer serviceand convenience, and Warrington has developed a cheapmeans o contacting vulnerable groups to warn them oconsumer scams.

Devon Record Oce has made their exhibits accessible to anew audience, similarly Derbyshire Cultural and CommunityServices has shown how public spaces can be used to

increase the numbers viewing exhibits.

Many local authority chie executives want to create a cultureo innovation in their organisations, especially given risingdemands but lower resources. But many have struggled to doso. Top-down innovation initiatives can oten have the counter-productive eect o stifing sta engagement and imagination.Innovation becomes something done by senior decision-makers.

Some o these projects might seem somewhat marginalcompared to the challenges aced by local government asa whole, yet they hold the clue to how to develop moreinnovative, eective and ecient local services. Drawing onthese examples, the LGiU supported by NESTA has identiedsome o the actors that have enabled innovation to fourishin local authorities. What stands out most o all is that theseprojects have managed to achieve what they have because

they are small. They started with limited but crucial amountso unding, with ocused teams to lead them, and have beengiven time to develop. This suggests that a stronger cultureo innovation can be developed in local government rom theground-up, project-by-project, and the benets and experienceo doing so can build over time.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5


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Supporting more innovation in local government:

Authorities should create innovation unds drawn rom

local discretionary spendingThe types o projects highlighted in this pamphlet are especiallyvulnerable due to a divide at the heart o local governmentbetween statutory and non-statutory services. It is the latterthat are most likely to be cut in the next ew years, despite thegreater potential to innovate in these areas and to save moneyas a result.

We recommend that each local authority create an innovation

und, composed o (some proportion o) the unding currentlyallocated to discretionary expenditure (libraries, museums andleisure provision, and so on). These unds would be designed tostimulate a much more entrepreneurial spirit in achieving publicpolicy objectives and to break down the silos that oten aecteective service delivery. The pamphlet provides a detailedproposal or the design and operation o these unds.

Central government should work with local authorities to

ensure a successul trial o this approach. The lessons learntcould then be incorporated into guidance or other localauthorities seeking to adopt this model. Local governmentshould nance these unds, deploying personnel to supportits objectives, managing und allocations and encouraging awide range o providers to engage with this initiative. Ordinarycitizens could make use o these unds to improve theircommunities. This could include contributing project ideas,bidding or unding or supporting existing projects.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6


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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Part 1: Small is beautiul or innovation in local 8government

Part 2: The Small is Beautiul projects 18

Part 3: Supporting more innovation in local 35government

Acknowledgements 47


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PART 1: SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL FOR INNOVATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8

PART 1:

SMALL IS BEAUTIFULFOR INNOVATION INLOCAL GOVERNMENT

Innovation can mean very dierent things to dierentpeople in local government. Some might automaticallythink o expensive new customer relationship

management systems, shared services or one-stop shops.Those involved in the Small is Beautiul projects have a moreopen understanding o innovation, ocused less on specictechnologies or types o organisation but on doing somethingnew. Stephen Irwin, Education Ocer at Blackburn Museumstates that to innovate is to create something new a process,

procedure or doing something in a dierent style.EloiseAppleby, Head o Economic and Cultural Services at WinchesterCity Council says we call it creativity more than innovation.

It is this openness and the scale at which innovation has beendeveloped and implemented which has been crucial to thesuccess o the projects highlighted in this pamphlet.

This section o the pamphlet captures the commoncharacteristics o the selected Small is Beautiul projects,while the next section provides an overview o each o the tenprojects.

The barriers to innovation in local government

While these projects and many others demonstrate that it is

possible to innovate in local government, they tend to be theexception rather than the rule. There are a range o reasonswhy, broadly, a culture o innovation is not embedded in localgovernment.


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First, the discretionary spend o local authorities is limited.Central government species the services that need to beprovided. In many instances it prescribes the manner in whichthey are delivered. Local authorities have to devote timeand resources to comply with central government policiesand procedures. Allowing greater local discretion over thedeployment o council resources could acilitate councilsdiverting these resources to trial new ideas.

Second, many o the drivers o private sector innovation areabsent rom the public sector. Jennier House, the EconomicDevelopment Ocer at Rochord District Council, believesinnovation is a sign o a competitive business market.Putsimply, in the main local government does not competeto provide public service provision in its area. As a result,there is not the same competitive demand, or example, toensure that services are targeted eectively. Further, thestructure o employee pay and supplementary benets isrequently based on tenure and compliance with establishedprocedures. Typically, there are ewer opportunities or rapid

career progression but greater job security than in the privatesector. This can limit the external experience o local authorityemployees but also their incentive to innovate.

Third, unding or innovation is limited. Many private companieshave research and development budgets (or equivalent)devoted to innovation. In contrast, unds available to localgovernment or innovation are ragmented, oten temporaryand sometimes dicult to locate.

For example, East Riding has applied or unding under theChildrens Fund, but this is broken down by area. As a result,the service has had to present its ideas to every grant-makingauthority in its area to obtain unding. Middlesbrough hasobserved that improvements to back alleys reduce arsonand related costs. However, there is a separate budget orenorcement so [they] wont take money rom that to pay or

makeovers.Many projects likened the task o gaining undingto detective work. Innovators are not made aware o the

unding sources available or guided through the process oapplying or them.

Fourth, a procedural culture oten stifes innovation. Local


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authorities have dened procedures to ensure data security,nancial probity, equal opportunities and open, competitiveprocurement. Innovation can detract rom employees corework responsibilities, and so many would-be innovators diverttheir eort, skills and experience towards compliance.

This can make new ideas seem potentially dangerous.Objections to Rochords new Shop at My Local businesswebsite ocused on the act that i we allow residents tocomment on our service they can criticise us on our own

site.Winchester Museum said they were told that socialmedia is worrying [because] there are access and security

issues.Middlesbrough was required to enlist a re ocer, anenvironmental enorcement ocer, a back alley improvementocer, an area care operative and a community liaison ocerto perorm the relatively simple task o clearing up back alleys.Winchester captures it this way: People say they want toinnovate [but] fnd accounts, fnance, insurance wont let us. I

they eel the process is easier they would be more creative.

It is easy to see why these processes predominate. Councils

can save several hundreds o thousands on reducing theirinsurance premiums by instituting a risk management process.However, some o these procedural barriers need to beovercome i innovation is to be encouraged.

Fith, innovation is easily destroyed i a workplace is cynicalabout new ideas. Jennier House believes an innovativeculture is about not penalising new ideas.Comments such asyou cant do this or we tried it beoreextinguish employeecreativity. She regrets that in the public sector i you go in witha new idea the rst question is: Who has done it beore?Shesays we will never be innovative i we always ask this question.Reorganisation o local authorities is more oten than not a top-down process in which employees adjust to new structures.

Sixth, local authorities operate under intense media pressure.I projects ail it could damage the reputation o the localauthority. This can encourage them to prioritise reputationaldamage limitation. Projects with long eedback are less likely

to receive unding. Derbyshire describes how museums havea very long eedback process. A child visiting the museum may

be inspired so much by some exhibits they decide they want to



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be (or instance) a geologist when they grow up. You will only

know i they become one in 30 years. Local government looks

or outcomes in three years.Local authorities have not beenable to develop a suciently rigorous ramework or assessingindividuals that innovate. This ailure ensures local authorityemployees have little incentive to do so.

Small is beautiul

Given these amiliar barriers acing innovation in localgovernment, how did these projects manage it? In addition to

the commitment and dedication o the employees involved,these projects have managed to achieve what they havebecause they are small.

Some o these projects might, in the greater scheme o thechallenges acing local government and especially romthe perspective o central government policymakers, seemsomewhat marginal (although the local residents who havebeneted rom them would disagree). Yet they hold the clue to

how to develop a more innovative, eective and ecient localgovernment.

Many local authority chie executives want to create a cultureo innovation in their organisations, especially given risingdemands but lower resources. But many have struggled to doso. Top-down innovation initiatives can oten have the counter-productive eect o stifing sta engagement and imagination.Innovation becomes something done by senior decision-

makers.

What these projects point to is that innovation can be achievedin local government, led by rontline sta but that startingrelatively small can be a great advantage. A stronger culture oinnovation can be developed rom the ground-up, project-by-project, and the benets and experience o doing so can buildover time.

Look at the common eatures o the projects:

All had ewer than 30 sta. The majority had ewer than tensta (80 per cent o the projects).



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All were composed o a team o permanent councilemployees. Some had limited assistance rom volunteers(40 per cent o projects utilised volunteers).

The majority had a budget o less than ty thousandpounds a year (80 per cent o projects). Only two projectsexceeded this sum (Winchester and Middlesbrough). Halhad budgets o less than 10,000.

The average project had been running between three andve years. It worked with external partners to achieveits aims. Only 20 per cent o projects did not work with

partners to deliver their project.

The rest o this section discusses the common eatures o theprojects in more detail.

Scarce resources

All o the projects operated on a small budget. They weregranted little sums o money or limited periods. This orcedpractitioners to interact with external audiences to seek

unding or skills. Projects were continually required to assesstheir progress against the requirements o unders. They askedquestions such as how do we evidence success?

This consumed considerable time. Many innovators lamentedthat they spent much o their own time locating unds. Howeveras Eloise Appleby o Winchester noted: All [are] encouraged toinnovate because unds are tight.Scarcity o unding ensuredthat people who are low profle have more o an incentive to

prove their worth.In projects where unding was more secure,services detected a drop in citizen interaction and commitment.Middlesbrough observed that in areas where the team hadreceived unding rom other departments and then simply given

the makeover to the residents [there was] less neighbourhood

involvement and [the] area is now less maintained than other

sites.Scarce resources encourage the recruitment o externalpartners whose involvement commits them to the success othe project.

Each obtained unding or material support (or example,sta time) to pursue the projects rom their local authority. Inaddition the majority gained top-up unding rom a variety o



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dierent organisations. Groups unding the projects eatured inthis pamphlet include:

The Childrens Fund (East Riding).

The Connecting Communities Fund (East Riding).

Sure Start (East Riding).

Chambers o Trade (Rochord).

The Federation o Small Businesses (Rochord).

Parish councils (Rochord).

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (Derbyshire andWinchester).

Heritage Lottery Fund (Winchester), the Local StrategicPartnership (Broadland).

Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (Broadland).

Criminal Justice Board (Broadland), Community Saety

Board (Broadland).

Department or Communities and Local Government(Warrington).

Their Past Your Future (Blackburn).

Each o these unding streams is reliant on central governmentsupport. This could o course be cut or eliminated in thecurrent context (something that provokes the recommendation

included in this pamphlet).

External stimulus

Projects oten began because the local authority was acedwith a new issue or problem and there was no establishedprocedure to respond. An extraordinary event warranteda unique and tailored response. Practitioners then had a

justication to innovate. In Blackburn, Muslim veterans cameorward requesting recognition in the local newspaper.Derbyshire Museum Service was given a police collection bytheir local constabulary. In Winchester it was the CouncilsCitizens Panels Surveys that identied a need or the museum



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service to do more to cater or rural residents. In Broadland,a youth acility was vandalised. This encouraged a council inan area with relatively low crime to investigate the causes oanti-social behaviour. Few projects were initiated as the resulto orward planning or to adapt existing services to meet achange in consumer expectations.

Sta with external experience

The innovators requently came rom a dierent, non-localgovernment sphere o work. Their innovation involved applyingtheir old skills to this new eld. In Blackburn, Stephen Irwin was

a school teacher beore taking a role in the Museums Service.He now coordinates his projects relations with local schools. InEast Riding a registrar who was ormerly a teaching assistantwas employed to coordinate relations with schools. Even inBroadland the issue o anti-social behaviour was brought tothe District council because a Parish councillor that had undedthe play acilities installation also sat on the District council.As Eloise Appleby o Winchester explains: innovation requiresinteraction with external audiences.Innovators achieved

this external ocus by nurturing contacts established prior toentering local government.

Workplace reorganisation

Some employees had recently been subject to programmesdesigned to increase their productivity. Winchester Council hadintroduced a series o dierent initiatives, or example home-working, hot-desking, and peer-to-peer sharing orums. This

was part o a general reorganisation o the council to, as EloiseAppleby notes, give more autonomy to service managers toconcentrate on outcomes not process.Council employees werealso relocated to sit next to dierent teams. This was becausethe separate Museums headquarters was abolished three yearsago in budget cuts. The employees were required to sit in anopen plan oce including the economic development andcultural services division which includes arts, conservation andsports.

Other projects were initiated by individuals because theirroles straddled a series o council departments. In Blackburn,Stephen Irwin notes: I am in the cultural department, my



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consumers are in another [childrens services], we also have

the elderly as customers so my job by its nature is outward-

looking.Whether by design or chance, many innovatorsworked in non-local government areas beore; this made themexternally ocused.

Customer eedback

All projects were external acing in the sense they soughteedback rom their customers. A number o dierent toolswere employed including:

An evaluation sheet (East Riding).

Retail and leisure study (Rochord).

Increased usage o local services, or example use o carparks (Rochord).

Surveys o user and/or customer groups (Rochord).

Surveys o user/non user groups (Winchester).

Online interactive orums (Winchester).Customer comment cards (Winchester).

User case studies (Broadland, Winchester).

A questionnaire o residents (Broadland, Middlesbrough).

Door knock o residents (Middlesbrough).

A public event where residents could ask questions o

the projects beore voting on whether to und them(Broadland).

A decline in demand or council services, or example lessanti-social behaviour complaints or incidences o arson(Broadland, Middlesbrough).

Requests rom other public services or access to theservice or a tailored version o it (Derbyshire).

Visitors book (Derbyshire).

Bi-annual member consultation (Warrington).



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Ad hoc comments posted on site (Warrington).

Web-tracking (Winchester).

Comment board (Winchester).

Focus groups (Winchester).

Participatory budgeting, where members o the publicin that neighbourhood are allowed to vote on how theirmoney is spent (Broadland).

Quarterly eedback to the council on progress (Broadland).

This emphasis on obtaining eedback was important toproviding a justication or continued unding o the projects.

Product adaptation based on eedback

This eedback inormed the development o their product.Blackburn Museum is incorporating interviews with whitechildren into its second DVD ater requests by teachers or amore racially mixed group o interviewees. East Riding began

its project presenting to the children. Teachers requested thatthe service be made more interactive. East Riding altered theservice to include maps o their local area and require thechildren to dress-up. Rochord altered its Shop at My Localposters ater a consultation revealed some retailers could notdisplay them (the posters alerted customers to the presenceo vouchers, but some stores did not provide vouchers). Eachpractitioner altered their product according to the interests otheir customers.

Willingness to risk ailure

As Eloise Appleby o Winchester declares: I you dont putyour head above the parapet no-one will shoot at you.Manyo the individuals involved in these projects envisaged thathad they not been successul it would have damaged theircareer. They believed they were seen as atypical local authorityemployees by their peers. Their projects were oten an optionaladjunct to their main role.

Crucially, innovators were indulged i their projects did notinterere with the perormance o their main tasks. Jennier



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House o Rochord revealed eeling that she had put her neckon the chopping block sometimes.She believed that i it hadailed I may not have been given many more chances.It isnoticeable that those engaging in projects that did not directlycorrespond to their statutory responsibilities were urtheradvanced in their careers (whether their careers had been inlocal government or elsewhere). Other individuals were eithercomplying with their statutory duties (Middlesbrough), hadalready completed a series o similar successul projects priorto being allowed to proceed (Rochord), or were working onmicro projects with little associated risk (Devon). Individuals

who have achieved the rank they are comortable with or aresoon to retire perhaps eel more condent taking the risksinnovation requires.

Supportive leadership

Each o these projects occurred because managers werewilling to allow their sta to divert a proportion o theirtime to initiating and managing them. Nancy Small cited theimportance o support rom the Broadland Council Leader and

Chie Executive. Jennier House stated I am very lucky mycouncil [Rochord] have supported me.Patricia Mann notedthat her council (East Riding) leader requently attended theirevents in person. Stephen Irwin noted that the project meanthe had to go into the schools each week, one or two daysa week... [and spend] each weekend getting in touch with

veterans.Without supportive leadership this commitmentcould not be maintained. Innovative authorities need toconsider how to institutionalise the practice o managersdevoting sta time to innovation.



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PART 2: THE SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL PROJECTS 18

PART 2:

THE SMALL ISBEAUTIFUL PROJECTS

This section o the pamphlet provides a description o each othe ten selected projects.

Organisation

Blackburn Museum

and Art Gallery

Broadland District

Council

Devon Record

Ofce

Derbyshire County

Council Cultural

and Community

Services

East Riding

Registration

and Celebratory

Services

Project

We Also Served

The Stairway

Out o Crime

Programme

Sensory Box, Trade

& Empire Britain& India during the

1800s

The Derbyshire

Police Collection

Delivering the

Community Saety

Message

Citizenship in

Schools

Ofcer

responsible

Education Ofcer

Project Ofcer

Heritage Outreach

Ofcer

Derbyshire

Museums Ofcer

Superintendent

Registrar

Table 1: Selected Small is Beautiul projects


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Blackburn Museums Service: We Also Served

Muslim veterans living in Blackburn appealed to CouncillorBill Taylor that they were not getting appropriate recognition

or their service in the Second World War. The LancashireTelegraph covered the story. An Asian Youth Group approachedStephen Irwin at the Blackburn Museum service to ask orassistance in making a programme about Asians in Blackburnin the Second World War. There were very ew. However, thearticle gave Stephen the idea to locate and interview the SouthAsian veterans living in the surrounding community, includingthose eatured in the original article. Initially, ve veterans wereidentied in Blackburn, one in Accrington and, later, two inLondon.

Little research has been done into the two and a hal millionmen who had served in the British Indian Army (with the


Organisation

Lancashire

County Library

and Inormation

Service (LCLIS)

Middlesbrough

Council

Rochord DistrictCouncil

Warrington and

Halton Trading

Standards

Winchester City

Council

Project

Get It Loud in

Libraries

Back Alley

Improvement Team

Shop at My Local

Consumer Alert

Network (iCAN)

Museums

Service: Using

new technologyto engage with

customers

Ofcer

responsible

Cultural Youth

Oer-Policy

Ofcer

Principal

Environmental

Protection Ofcer

EconomicDevelopment

Ofcer

Principal Trading

Standards Ofcer

Head o Economic

and Cultural

Services


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exception o the Ghurkhas and Sikhs). India does not wantto acknowledge the service o individuals that ought or theormer colonial power. In contrast, Indians who volunteeredto serve Japan have been granted ull war pensions. StephenIrwin believes these interviews orm the only concerted attemptto record the experiences o Muslim British World War Twoveterans ever made. He describes the project as one designedto cater or a large group o people in danger o beingexcluded rom the historical record.

Blackburn is a town where a very high proportion o itspopulation are o South Asian heritage. This would providean easy hit or community cohesion as both the Muslim and

indigenous communities can come together and share a

common experience both hold to be important.Highlightingthe role o Muslim servicemen in the Second World Warcan challenge ar-right political groups in an entirelynon-conrontational mannerand can also challenge the

preconceptions o Muslim young men.

Ater discussion with the Asian youth group it was decided to

put on an exhibition to raise awareness o the role o Muslimservicemen amongst all o the towns communities. Part o thiswas a lm eaturing the local veterans being interviewed bythe young men rom the youth group. This was done as a jointproject between the youth group and the Museum.

The exhibition, especially the lm, was well received but ithighlighted some problems; unortunately, Stephen Irwin didnot speak Urdu or Punjabi. It also became apparent that most

o the Asian young people were not procient enough to speakto the veterans about their experiences either, and as it wasnttaught in school, they were unaware o what these men haddone.

Ater this the aim was to create a bank o 30 interviews withMuslim veterans and make them available to historians andprogramme makers. Also the Museum wanted to do somethingmore ambitious. They submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery

Fund to hire permanent sta who spoke Urdu to identiy thesepeople, interview them and use that material to develop ateaching resource or local schools. The bid was unsuccessulbut a urther bid or a smaller sum has enabled the project to



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proceed, ocusing on the resource or schools.

A DVD was commissioned. A lm-maker was chosen rom

the Creative Partnerships list (now called Curious Minds). Thisgroup o artists work in schools with children. Consequentlyall lm-makers on this list are Criminal Records Bureau(CRB) checked. This DVD eatured the Asian veterans whohad originally identied themselves and children rom twolocal schools. These two schools were St Bedes which isoverwhelmingly white, and Beardwood which is overwhelminglyo South Asian heritage. These schools have previouslyswapped whole year groups or a ew days to encourage racialco-operation. Teachers who saw the original lm said theinterviews were too Asian-ocused. Interviews led by a mixedgroup o white and Asian children are necessary to make itrelevant to all communities. Mr Irwin has incorporated thissuggestion in his ramework or developing the second DVD.

The project is now pushing or national publicity with noambitions beyond that.It hopes that other veterans may beinspired to come orward. Emel, a Muslim liestyle magazine,

was approached. Its Assistant Editor had a ather and unclewho served in the British Indian Army. It recently eatured apiece on Muslim veterans. Two volunteers rom the schoolsappeared on BBC Radio Manchester to discuss the project. TheAsian youth group and Blackburn Museum parted companyin December 2009 with disagreements over fnance andcopyright.The Asian Youth Group was the gate-keeper whogave access to the Asian veterans. The second lm mightneed to be re-scripted because Muslim veterans cannot beguaranteed. The project is currently seeking external nanceand veterans to sustain it.

Broadland District Council: The Stairway Out o CrimeProgramme

The Broadland area in Norolk is a relatively low crime area.However, in 2003 childrens play acilities were vandalised in

one o its wards. A District councillor brought this issue up inull council, leading to a discussion about who was committingcrime and why. Keen to arm their role in crime prevention, the



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Council realised they needed to know what the issues were andhow to best place resources to address them. Research wascommissioned rom the University o East Anglia.

Three years and 100,000 later the research was completed. Itrecommended the shiting o resources rom crisis managementto the adoption o early intervention programmes to divertindividuals rom crime. Upon receiving the research (in 2007)Broadland District Council decided to pilot a series o dierentprojects, grounded in the research and primarily delivered bythe third sector.

Over 15 projects have been piloted. Those that provedsuccessul have been mainstreamed. The aim was to provideseed capital to initiate the projects. They would be unded onceand then would need to sell their services to endure.

The projects all under three headings which ollow the threerameworks outlined in the original research:

1) A one-stop shop: to provide or young peoples emotional

wellbeing in a timely, fexible and non-stigmatising way.Supporting young people when issues arise can be moreeective than waiting until poor emotional wellbeingmaniests itsel in the young persons behaviour.

Benjamin Foundation: The Time 4 You Service has beenprovided in seven primary schools since November 2007.It is a counselling service to support young people todeal with issues including bullying, bereavement, amily

break-up, parents misusing substances, eating disorders,sel harm, depression and more. Children are reerred tothe service by teachers, parents or by themselves at alunchtime drop-in. They are seen on an individual basis or30 minutes a week or as long as the child wants. An initialinvestment o 26,000 has led to urther external undingand schools contributing, meaning that now over 500young people have received support.

NSPCC Respectul Relationships Programme and LeewayWomens Aid Schools Domestic Violence Programme(a local womens group) workshop on violence towardswomen issues: A six-week programme in primary schools



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and high schools raising awareness amongst youngpeople, ensuring they know how to access support,equipping them with techniques to solve confict withoutviolence and busting myths that allow domestic abuse tofourish.

Matthew Project: This project provides coaching toadolescents or whom substance misuse is causing themto disengage rom education or become involved with theCriminal Justice System. Young people spend one hourper week with their coach, usually or about three months.It was started with a 9,000 grant which has allowedthe gathering o evidence to support its being rolled outNorolk-wide.

2) Social enterprise ramework: These projects work to engageyoung people with education and training and use their timeproductively.

Our House/Carrowbreck project: Groups o 15 youngpeople at a time work on a dilapidated house leased bythe Council. By working alongside proessionals in theconstruction industry, young people gain valuable skillsand make important contacts. They are given a chanceto do NVQ level 2, to develop construction links and betutored in literacy etc. The last six weeks are dedicatedto CV production. Fourteen o teen nished and all buttwo are employed or in urther training in the constructionindustry.

The Taverham Massive: Friday night social club begun inDecember 2007 with support rom the Parish, District,High School, Norolk Constabulary and local businesses.Incidences o anti-social behaviour have decreased rom64 every two months to just two.

3) Community Justice Focus: These projects aim to enablecommunities to take a stronger role in crime prevention/

setting targets/responding to crime in their Districts.Participatory budgeting: A steering group o local young

people oversaw a process which allowed the public to



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vote as to how money should be spent in their area. Localcommunity and voluntary groups presented their projectideas at a public meeting at the local high school and the130-strong audience cast their vote.

Assertiveness Training, Victim Support: Over the next 12months up to 70 bullied young people will attend a one-day training course. This will teach them assertivenessskills, relaxation skills and coping strategies to reduce thebullying they experience and minimise its impact.

Restorative Justice: Training key individuals in the District

to allow the deployment o restorative approaches.

Until 2009 there was no ocer to coordinate the variousStairway Projects. It was the responsibility o many peoplewithin the council. These projects received very good supportrom [the] leader o the council and the chie executive who

are right behind it.Their support was necessary to get theprojects o the ground.

Derbyshire County Council Cultural and Museums

Services: The Derbyshire Police Collection Deliveringthe Community Saety Message

In 2004 Derbyshire Police decided to dispense with the 2,000items in their police heritage collection. The County Councilasked its museums service to manage it. Ater contemplatingputting it in storage, it was decided to deploy the collection to

promote the work o the police and the dierent roles within it.The collection would be used in very small exhibitions thatcould be deployed in libraries where ootall was greater.The idea was to take collections into the community ratherthan expecting the community to come to the museum.All the exhibitions consist o two small display cases anda banner. They are devised at the computer alongside theobjects. There are currently our touring exhibitions using thepolice collections ocusing on community saety themes. Themuseums work with all 46 public libraries. This ensures thatthe exhibit can be seen by all communities, provided they uselibraries. Under the police the collection was seen by 3,000



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people a year. In some libraries elements are seen by thatnumber each week.

Exhibitions have been designed to link in with policecampaigns:

Truncheons and typewriters: This exhibition explores genderissues in the police. The police want to promote the roleo women in the 21st Century orce. Four women policeocers (retired) and serving ocers were invited to help toput together a range o exhibits. It looked at what womendid beore and what they do now. Primary school girls were

invited to the opening o this exhibition.

Hooked: The idea o taking the drugs material out wasquite scary.This had a large piece o paper in the shape oa cannabis lea on which visitors recorded their eedback.

KopyKats: Developed in co-operation with DerbyshireTrading Standards. This eatures examples o orged/clonedand imitation items.

Faireld project: In their community support role the policeworked with the local Sure Start Mums and Toddlers groupand the local museum. Children were able to see policework in context in their own community rather than in a

giant collection.There was an opportunity or children tomeet the police dog and have their ngerprints taken.

Ros Westwood describes how to be innovative you cant dosomething huge. I you want people to enjoy something you

can bring them to a big event and they can be overwhelmed, oryou can give them a taster session.The average annual spendo this programme is 28,000. This provides or the ollowingeatures: a part-time curator, management o the collection,exhibition development, a travelling exhibition programme withtransport and sta, and promotion and marketing.

Devon Record Ofce: Sensory Box, Trade and Empire

Britain and India during the 1800s

This is a partnership between the Devon Record Oce andthe West o England School to introduce those with little or



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no sight to what the Record Oce does. It was begun in 2009when a Heritage Ocer rom Devon Record Oce approacheda history teacher at the West o England School. This schoolis one o the ew or children who are partially sighted in thearea. She wished to make the Record Oce accessible to thedisabled, publicise its work and increase visitor numbers. Theyagreed to undertake a joint project entitled Trade and Empire.It was unded by the Museums Libraries and Archives Council(MLA) which granted 3,000 under the Pocket Learning Linksscheme. The main items o expenditure included sta time andthe purchase o small items or the exhibit.

Relevant items rom the archives were identied. Theseincluded charts eaturing voyage routes and the diary o a seacaptain. They were modied to allow the disabled to engagewith them. The chart exhibiting the passage to India and Chinaby the Cape o Good Hope was modied using Minolta sousers could eel the contours o the route. The Diary o A.W.Davies, Captain o the ship the Oleana o Liverpool dated1842 was transcribed into brail on parchment. Bags o items

were assembled containing traded commodities to enable thechildren to touch and smell the exhibit. They included itemssuch as spices, cotton, silk and calico, ruits (a pineapple anda pomegranate) and dried sh. Other touching bags includeditems used in the trading process, or example a replica seal, oldcoins and so on. A proessional story-teller was hired to assistthe children to create a letter describing their imaginary voyageto India.

This project is relatively new. It is still under development. Theoptions or expansion include the recruitment o additionalschools to showcase the exhibits, and the provision o adviceto other authorities on how to adapt their exhibits or disabledusers. Gloucester Archives has used elements o this exhibit intheir programmes. The handling collection has been given tothe Devon Learning Resource. This Council body distributes/exhibits handling collections to schools on request. Currentlythe Record Oce is working with the West o England School

on a project entitled A Sense o Place. This compares old mapso the area (nineteenth century) surrounding the school withexisting maps. It seeks to encourage students to identiy withtheir area, develop spatial awareness, a sense o history and an



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understanding o how maps can be used.

East Riding Registration and Celebratory Services:

Citizenship in Schools

In June 2008 East Riding Registration Services invited localschool children to attend citizenship ceremonies held in thecouncil registration oces. Local schools were required toorganise the transport and escort the children. This aectedthe take up. Patricia Mann had the idea to take citizenshippresentations and mock ceremonies out to the schools. Head

teachers in East Riding were e-mailed to ask i they wouldlike their school to take part. Nearly all immediately repliedthat they would. Organising the events involved a ew phonecalls to the school and presenting or just over an hour. TheRegistration team was comprised o three to our part-timeproessionals

Feedback was delivered through an evaluation sheet compiledby those presenting in co-operation with the teachers. Teaching

sta asked or the presentations to be made more interactive.In response, fash cards were produced depicting placeso interest around East Riding. The children dressed up incostumes provided by the registrars and role-played the part odignitaries and new citizens.

Patricia and the team are now working to produce aneducational DVD on citizenship ceremonies and extend theormal ceremonies into senior schools. Currently they are

compiling evidence to attempt to make permanent theirgovernment connecting communitys und grant. The existinggrant requires them to target this service to areas with a largeethnic minority/migrant population. I they do not obtainurther unding they will ask the schools or a contribution.They seek to cover the costs o the project which amount to150 per ceremony in travel and prop costs plus sta time.

The civic oce provides each child with a certicate or their

involvement in the ceremony and the children are also givena sticker which says Citizenship is Cool. The Chairman othe Council and other local dignitaries regularly attend theceremonies. Parental permission is obtained or any photos or



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lms taken at the event. The project has worked with LACORSin the past to publicise inormation about the project on theLACORS website. They hope other authorities will emulate theirwork. The eedback received so ar has been excellent, withmany schools requesting repeat visits.

Interaction with the senior schools or the ormal citizenshipceremonies is part o a wider government initiative toencourage more o a community welcome, encouraging localemployers and police community support ocers to engagewith new citizens.

Rochord District Council: Shop at My Local

When Rochord produced its Local Development Frameworkit was required to compile a Retail and Leisure Study. Thisrevealed consumer spend was leaking out o the District toneighbouring boroughs, internet outlets and out-o-townshopping centres. Central Government wanted local authoritiesto concentrate on reducing vacant lots, i.e. empty shop

premises. Rochord viewed this as a symptom o decline notits cause. They decided to investigate why individuals did notaccess the town centre. They detected a dierence betweenmain spend (weekly shop) and a lot o daily top-up spend(incidentals such as milk, bread and newspapers). They believedthe latter could be directed to small shops and set up theproject to ensure this.

Rochord researched campaigns designed to encourage people

to shop locally. Some local authorities held a public event,which increased ootall and thereby business. However, itseects were temporary. Others ounded their own currency.Such schemes were expensive to operate. They had a low levelo membership. Working with local traders, Rochord DistrictCouncil had previously operated a parking reund. This alsohad problems. Retailers lost money i they reunded parkingor customers who purchased something o nominal value.Thereby, Rochord decided to design a new scheme one

that provided the value o internet or outlet shopping with theunique benets o independent retailers, such as customerservice and specialist products.



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A local website called Shop at My Local was set up. Any localtrader can join the campaign or ree by signing the TraderPledge and use the website to gain an increased prole onlineand to add exclusives oers (vouchers) to entice shoppers.Users can search by area. They can also search by type obusiness. This enables them to make best use o the voucherscheme. The site currently eatures 70 vouchers. The ront pageeatures the newest.

Members are included in an online business directory andmember eedback reveals that member businesses are gettingincreased rankings with major search engines as a result otheir membership o this scheme. When members join theysign a pledge. This commits them to get involved in localinitiatives, oer good customer service and maintain theirareas cleanliness. In return businesses are oered training onVAT and tax compliance, merchandising, customer service andcrime prevention.

Buying groups are currently being organised to enable tradersto achieve economies o scale. Three thousand Shop at My

Local bags were purchased to publicise the scheme. Localenterprises were given the opportunity to buy advertisingor customers or other businesses. A young entrepreneurprogramme was initiated. Under this scheme local schoolchildren were asked to design a product or Shop at My Local. Iit is viable, the product will be designed and built in the District.

Lancashire County Council Library and Inormation

Service: Get It Loud in Libraries

Stewart Parsons o the Lancashire Library Service wasapproached by Hot Chip, an English electropop band, to aski they could perorm in the local library. The band was not yetwell-known. They were reused permission. However, this oerencouraged Mr Parsons, a music librarian, to rethink the role olibraries. He began to think libraries are about art and culturenot just about books.Many people who love music are not

accessing it through libraries. This is because new CD releaseshave a 90-day hold-back to boost sales. New releases cannotbe ound in libraries. However, there is nothing to stop bands



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perorming new material in libraries. This was the idea behindGet It Loud in Libraries.

This project aimed to achieve the ollowing objectives:

1) To oer teenagers, hard-to-reach groups and culturallyattuned people who dont habitually visit libraries a uniquemodern and sae experience through live perormance in atraditional library setting.

2) To break down the perceptions that libraries are irrelevant,

and condently reposition the library in peoplesimaginations, making a bold statement that drives themessage home that libraries are a cool alternative place toaccess great music, novels, inormation and art.

3) To break out o the library comort zone, pitch a marketingdrive in the High Street and online in youth communicationchannel websites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace toengage, diversiy and develop a new resh audience.

Library employees research, select and book music andcomedy acts. Acts such as Florence and the Machine, Bat ForLashes, Adele, The Blackout and Ellie Goulding have perormedin libraries under this scheme. Fourteen young volunteerworkers provide additional support (this has increased to 50volunteers across the country as the Get It Loud in Librariesinitiative has gone nationwide). The acts are perormed in thelibrary, which has a 200 person capacity. Users are charged

a small sum or entry (5-10). Free tickets are distributed todeprived and hard-to-reach groups. This covers the eventscosts which include PA hire, security, stang and band hire.The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and LancashireArts Development provide additional unding or the scheme.A toolkit has been produced to acilitate other authoritiesreplicating this project.

Lancashire libraries have had almost 3,800 non-members visit

the library under the scheme. Unortunately the project cannotdetect whether these users have begun to utilise traditionallibrary services. However, the library service is now the biggestdistributor o CDs o any UK library service. Users are being



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encouraged to engage with the library in a new way. This wasthe aim o the project.

Middlesbrough Council: Back Alley Improvement Team

Back alleys are romanticised by Coronation Street. Theyare a eature o many urban centres. However, they are alsoprone to decay. A transient population can be created inareas where there is a high incidence o renting. With littlelong-term commitment to the area people have little interestin maintaining it. Fly tipping can become a problem, with

mattresses and chairs abandoned. This encourages incidentso arson. Middlesbrough initially responded by putting alleygates on the back alleys o many terraced streets and providingcommunal bins so residents could put their rubbish out at anytime. However, a more extensive solution was required.

In March 2009 senior management at Middlesbrough councildecided to roll out a back alley improvement project inpartnership with community protection. The Council targeted

implementation on our wards subject to signicant deprivation(Middlehaven, University, Gresham and North Ormesby).Suitable sites were identied by a questionnaire o residentsand door-based surveys were used to identiy i there was aninterest.

Council employees were seconded rom other teams toassemble the Back Alley Improvement Team. This includesan Environmental Enorcement Ocer, a Community Liaison

Ocer rom Cleveland Fire Brigade, a Back Alley ImprovementOcer and operatives rom Area Care. This team had atarget o our alley makeovers in 2009-10; 15 were conducted.Makeovers were catered to the tastes o the residents toincrease their sense o ownership. Funding is linked toenvironmental improvements and the achievement o NationalIndicator 196 which requires a reduction in fy tipping.

Alley makeovers have changed poorly maintained areas into

attractive public spaces. Oenders were enlisted to do theinitial preparation work under the community payback scheme(or example removing litter and grati). The author Bill Brysonwas invited to ocially open one specic alley. Children rom



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the Breckon Hill Community Centre assisted in the makeover oone alley. An ocial opening o an alley was catered with oodmade by local residents. Resident volunteers were identiedin each back alley to be responsible or ongoing maintenance.The local authority aims to recruit an artist to produce a plaqueor piece o art to commemorate each makeover. A 24 per centreduction in small deliberate res has been recorded in the ourwards subject to alley makeovers, and a target o 10 per centimprovement was exceeded in a recent assessment o alleycleanliness.

Warrington and Halton Trading Standards: ConsumerAlert Network (iCAN)

This service seeks to alert residents to rogue traders, consumercons and scams and other community issues. Initially they rang20 to 30 people to alert them to scams but this was insucient.Equally, placing public alerts in the paper did not ull the needor real-time updates. A technological solution was needed.

The sotware developed or public neighbourhood watchsystems was restrictive as to who it could access and whatinormation it could broadcast. It was controlled by the policeand community saety. The police did not have the undingto do more with it. Warrington applied or a grant rom theDepartment or Communities and Local Government in 2002to develop a consumer support network. A solution waspurchased rom a private company with a background intelephony solutions or corporations. This system could deliverautomated messages via phone, email or text.

Messages delivered by the unit include brie details o theincident, advice on how to protect onesel and a contact acilityi you require urther advice. Alerts are put out on average oncea week. Over 100,000 individual messages are delivered everyyear. Three thousand citizens have signed up to receive theservice. Warrington has invested in the hardware and sotware.Voice Connect are paid to maintain it. The cost or other local

authorities to build this capacity would be 30,000. EastCheshire, West Cheshire and Traord have all asked about thepossibility o purchasing the service rom Warrington. Access



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can be opened on a select basis to specied IP addresses.Anyone on the network can log on to it online.

Every two years a survey o members and non-members isconducted to draw comparisons. Three rounds o consultationhave been conducted. Members report higher awareness otheir consumer rights and less vulnerability to door-step crime.The service has allowed quicker detection o door-step scams.A damp proo scam aected hundreds o victims in 2000 priorto iCAN. However, when the perpetrators resuraced under anew business titled Britannia Home Improvements only onevictim was recorded. Residents alerted iCAN who alerted theneighbourhood. Warrington wishes to extend the service toother public services. This could be done in a tailored ashionas the system allows or users to send inormation out by emailand text only to publicise events.

Winchester City Council: Museums Service Using newtechnology to engage with customers

Winchester City Council requires its museum service toprovide value or money and reach disadvantaged groups.The service set up a community history partnership, consistingo heritage groups, parish councils and others to help themprovide services more eectively or rural residents o thedistrict. Helping to meet a need identied through the CouncilsCitizens Panel surveys, the partnership has or example sentre-enactors to perorm at community events, and createdsmall-scale exhibitions or community centres.

However, Winchester Museums wanted to nd a solution thatcould reach all residents or whom access was a problem,and decided to draw on web technologies which are otenree or low cost. The service commissioned students rom theUniversity o Winchester to produce YouTube videos aboutvisiting the museums designed to appeal to young people.360-degree virtual tours were produced to improve pre-visitinormation or those with disabilities, who may have been

deterred rom visiting by not knowing what physical obstaclesthey would ace at the museum on arrival. Members o statrained to record podcasts on exhibitions, providing interest



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or those with visual impairments. All temporary exhibitions arearchived on the web as a long-term resource or schools andlearning groups.

The number o people visiting the museum sites in person lastyear ell slightly or the rst time: however, those using the webservice have increased signicantly. People are interacting withthe service in new ways. Winchester was one o the rst Districtcouncil museum services to integrate web-based and people-acing services in this way.

In addition Winchester has used its web presence to

manage the input o volunteers. The Council is engaged on aprogramme o cultural change, which has recently seen theinvolvement o the Improvement and Development Agency orLocal Government (IDeA) in conducting sta ocus groups togain the opinions o sta on workorce issues. As part o thischange, a volunteer team has been established to support staat museum sites. To minimise the burden o administration, ablog acility and diary was created to allow volunteers to signup or stints on the rota and to keep abreast o the latest news

in the service. When volunteers were introduced, some staeared they would require too much supervision to be helpul.However, Eloise Appleby describes how many o her sta arenow reliant on them.They have become a fexible support tothe paid sta.

To provide this and the other web-based acilities, the museumsservice engaged the help o the Councils IT service, andproduced business cases to provide sta access to Facebook

and other social media sites. At a time when governmentsecurity requirements or IT management are being constantlytightened, negotiations or greater use o social media couldbe drawn out and require some lateral thinking to resolve.Winchester Museums is now looking at reporting mechanismsto gauge the success o its web-based activities. At present,these rely largely on outputs rather than outcomes. Themuseum is seeking to rectiy this, or example by developing alow-cost evaluation process or the podcasts, which is likely to

draw on web-based solutions such as SurveyMonkey.



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PART 3: SUPPORTING MORE INNOVATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT 35

PART 3:

SUPPORTING MOREINNOVATION INLOCAL GOVERNMENT

Innovation is possible in local government. Theseprojects prove that. However, it is also subject tosevere constraints.

The types o projects highlighted here are especially vulnerabledue to a divide at the heart o local government. There is a legalrequirement to provide statutory services, while non-statutoryservices are discretionary. Statutory services include waste

collection and street cleaning; planning and housing strategy;and administering housing benets. Non-statutory servicesinclude community centres, grants to voluntary organisations,parks, open spaces and allotments, parking, public toilets,theatres, museums and art galleries. I local authorities areasked to achieve reductions in their expenditure they are likelyto target services that they provide out o choice rather thannecessity.

I public service provision is not to decline, local authoritieswill need to increase their productivity. The ocial line is moreor less. This requires innovation. Non-statutory services arethen a potential ocus or innovation. This is because councilschoose to provide them. There are no established guidelinesor procedures. Councils are reer to innovate. In contrast manyo the actions o local government relate to the 198 NationalIndicators they are required to implement. These are moreprescriptive, resulting in greater barriers to innovation.

The challenge is to devise a model that will deend thesepockets o innovation and help extend them across localauthorities. This section outlines a model that councils could


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adopt to encourage and support innovation.

Local authorities should create dedicated innovation

unds rom discretionary spend and other sources

Local authorities could allocate their discretionary expenditure,or a proportion o it, to create a local innovation und. The sizeo the discretionary spend varies between authorities. Eachcouncil would need to assess what items o its expenditurewere not required by statute. Some could choose to be radicaland divert all their discretionary spend to a new local und.

Others may preer a more incremental approach, transerring asmall amount o resources to their unds to trial this approach.

Each und could dispense loans capped at a specic level(or example 50,000) or a limited period (or example amaximum o three years) to projects which meet speciedcriteria. The und could also be augmented by donations romlocal philanthropists, businesses and successul council grantapplications to charitable or government bodies. For example,

entities such as the Social Enterprise Loan Fund and the UKInnovation Investment Fund exist precisely to make awards toinnovative projects.

The ocus o the innovation unds would not simply be aboutsaving councils money. In our original request or councils tosubmit inormation we stated: The small budget, rontline

service teams most likely to be cut oten provide the services

with the greatest potential to build local pride, community

relationships and sense o place.In addition to achieving costsavings to councils and allowing the reduction in councilsannual grant to discretionary spend, these innovation undsshould seek to:

Improve council service delivery, or example morepersonalised, responsive services or citizens.

Promote an outcome rather than process-orientedapproach to public service delivery.

Increase the productivity o local government to ensuregreater value or money to taxpayers.


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Reduce the number o team silos that duplicate unctionsand waste resources.

More detail on the possible operation o these unds is providedbelow.

Who decides who awards loans rom the und?

Dierent local authorities have dierent structures: two-tier, unitary, mayoral and so on. Individual councils will needto determine the composition o their awards bodies torefect their unique local circumstances. However, we wouldrecommend two eatures. First, the Leader o the council (or anequivalent gure) should be present on the awards body. Thisis because loans should be made in line with the policy aims othe incumbent administration. They should also be subject todemocratic control and oversight. Second, the Chie Executiveo the council should be present to signal the councils enduringcommitment to this scheme.

The administration o a loan portolio requires considerablenancial expertise and some bureaucratic capacity. Ateam will need to be given responsibility or managing theinnovation und. We believe this team should sit within theChie Executives oce. This will aid coordination o loanapprovals with the councils political priorities. The requiredcapacity o the team will vary according to the size o theauthority, the quantity o unds diverted to the und andthe workload created. The workload is dicult to calculate.Until the scheme is piloted we will not know the number o

projects that will be submitted or consideration. However,individuals could be seconded rom a department amiliarwith portolio management (or example the pensions team).They could train a sucient number o council employees toprovide appropriate oversight. This could be scaled up or downdepending on the demand.

What criteria will they apply?

Finance decisions would be made under a new criterion. We

suggest our preerred criteria below. Projects bidding orunding would need to demonstrate they could achieve theollowing:



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Cost savings across the council or a specied return oncapital (an interest rate) would be applied to the loan.

Long-term viability o the project independent o localauthority sponsorship. Projects should not be dependenton long term unding by the local authority or thisinnovation und. A plan should be in place to transitionthem to become commercially viable enterprises (social orotherwise) ater a specied date (or example three years).

Broaden the skills base o the council by giving sta anexperience o work in the private or third sector. It is

noticeable that innovation in this sector tended to comerom individuals with external experience. This schemewould extend the number o local authority employees withsuch experience.

Create a competitive market or the achievement opublic policy aims. Competition is a spur or privatesector innovation. Businesses need to create new ormore desirable products to remain protable. The public

sector is marked by a greater preerence or complianceto established procedure. Projects noted the ears oreputational damage and nancial or legal risk whichgoverned action. By establishing an automatic sunsetclause on each o these projects (the date at which the loancapital needs to be repaid) the public sector can replicatea positive echo o the creative destruction present in theprivate sector.

Involve private citizens in the development o solutionsto public problems. This proposal seeks to allow councilsgreater reedom to draw on the skills o innovativecommunities to meet common problems. Innovative ideasdo not necessarily have to come rom the council, althoughan innovative council should wish to nance their gestation.

What do cost savings or a return on capital mean?

Cost savings to the council occur when there is a reduction

in the public need or a council service, or example i a socialenterprise provides low-cost activities or local youth and thisreduces incidences o crime; it could reduce the expenditurerequired or enorcement action. They can also occur i a more



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ecient means o delivering an existing service is developed.A return on capital would be achieved when a project sells itsservices to external sources or sells its services to the councilby more eciently providing an existing council service.

When they begin, projects wishing to obtain unding wouldneed to evidence how they would achieve protability or costsavings to the council ater a designated period o time. At theend o this period projects would need to repay the loan plusinterest, apply or a resh grant or old. When estimating costsavings that could be achieved the local authority would needto consider how it would recover savings made to servicesoutside the operational control o the local authority.

Councils do not control all o the public services that operatein their area. This sometimes creates diculties in recycling thecost savings achieved. Local authorities would need to enterinto agreements with the local services that operate in theirarea to allow savings made to these services to be paid into thegeneral und. Without such agreement local authorities mayseek to exclude these services and projects in their areas rom

consideration or innovation loans.

What interest rate will local authorities charge on their loans?

The level o interest on innovation und loans will vary. It willbe at the local authorities discretion. In deciding what rate toapply they will need to consider a number o actors. Sucientcoverage should be provided to account or loans made toprojects that ail. A return in excess o that available in deposit

acilities should be made. The rate o return should also serveto build up a sucient innovation und to allow the numbero loans made to continue to be made. By way o comparisonthe Social Enterprise Loan Fund charges both an arrangementee o between 1 and 2 per cent on agreement to loan and aninterest rate o between 2 and 7 per cent.

What would happen i the project was not proftable or had

not achieved cost savings?

I the enterprise chooses to apply or an additional councilgrant it would need to evidence the cost savings achieved. Ithese were insucient or non-existent urther grants should bereused. This measure should limit local authorities exposure



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and commitment to ailing projects. It should also reduce theexisting level o waste in local authority expenditure.

How would we manage the transition to this new system?

The innovation und will be nanced out o the money currentlybeing spent on the delivery o existing non-statutory services.Each o the schemes these resources currently und wouldneed to rebid to maintain their unding. Both local authorityemployees and external contractors could bid or these unds.This would ensure local authority compliance with the EUduty to contract out services above a specied sum (currently

156,000). There are currently 62,000 social enterprises inthe UK. According to Social Enterprise Coalition, they employaround 800,000 individuals and contribute around 24 billionto the UK economy. It is likely they will compete to providethese services. Local authorities would need to decide whatto do with employees that mounted unsuccessul bids orunds. They could be deployed to other departments withinthe council or made redundant as the circumstances andpreerences o the local authority dictate.

This approach has some precedents in some o the Small isBeautiul projects. Broadland District Council operates a modelentitled The Stairway Project. The capital provided is viewedas seed unding. It is small-scale. Projects can be supported intheir bids to obtain third sector unding. However, additionallocal authority grants are not supplied. The aim is to makeeach o these schemes a viable commercial entity. In RochordDistrict Council the Shop at My Local scheme is seeking social

enterprise status and National Lottery unding. Its creator isconsidering going part-time and the project plans to be sel-sucient within our years.

What kind o enterprises could be ormed?

Community interest companies (CIC): A CIC is a legal ormcreated specically or social enterprises. It has a socialobjective that is regulated ensuring that the organisationcannot deviate rom its social mission and that its assets areprotected.

Industrial and provident societies (IPS): This is the usualorm or co-operatives and community benet societies,



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and is democratically controlled by their members in orderto ensure their involvement in the decisions o the business.

Limited companies: The most common legal structureor businesses and oten considered to be the mostfexible, particularly companies limited by shares. Whilethey can ensure they have a social mission written intotheir Memorandum and Articles o Association, this is notregulated.

Group structures or independent charities: Tax is animportant consideration or some organisations where the

retention o surpluses is essential, particularly i they canttake on equity.

Some discretionary services might not ft this model

There are two potential models or managing thetransition a transormational and an incremental option.The transormational option involves transerring all thediscretionary spend o a local authority immediately to theinnovation und. This spend would include that designatedto library and museum provision. It would necessitate acomprehensive redesign o the provision o these services tobid or projects under the specied loan limit. This big bangapproach may not suit all authorities.

The incremental option would require a council to cancela number o existing discretionary projects and put themoney saved into an innovation und. Specic services couldbe exempted rom being included in the innovation und.

They would continue to be unded in the traditional manner.Alternatively specic areas o expenditure within a budget(or example the capital expenditure in the museums budget)could be ring-enced. These exempted unding streams wouldcontinue to be nanced in the traditional manner. However,other items o expenditure within that budget (or example thestang element o the museums budget) would need to applyor resources rom the innovation und. The incremental optionrecognises the unique nature o some discretionary servicesby allowing some whole services or parts o services to beexempted rom inclusion in the innovation und.

Both options have their merits. The weak option should not



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be discounted. The value o this approach is illustrated bythe experience o the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. It provesthat small capital injections can generate signicant returnsand create viable enterprises. Grameen is a microcreditand community development bank. Its ounder ProessorMuhammad Yunus, Head o the Rural Economics Program atthe University o Chittagong, had launched an action researchproject to design a credit delivery system to provide bankingservices targeted at the rural poor. In 1983 this project wastransormed into the Grameen Bank. It provides loans to smallbusiness people without the traditional requirement or a rm

to provide collateral. Ninety eight per cent o its microcreditloans are repaid. The bank distributed around $8 billion inassistance to the rural poor between 1983 and 2008. Theexistence o this bank and its success prove that a publicallysupported und can achieve a prot and spur innovation.

How would innovation unds help to deliver savings in local

government?

Reductions in local authorities annual grant to the innovation

und can begin in the second year. These could be madeincrementally until they reach a specied sum. The size o thissum and the speed o reduction would be a matter or localpoliticians to dictate in coordination with central government.It would vary between local authorities. These reductions canoccur due to three actors.

Discretionary unding can be cut because the innovation undwill be managed to achieve a return on capital. Projects that

become commercial enterprises can agree a loan repaymentschedule and pay a rate o interest on the original loan. Thesepayments added to cost savings achieved by other projects canbe added to the innovation und. Both these income streamsshould be managed with a view to moving the und towards asustainable ooting. The und will aim to become sel-nancingwithout the need or urther capital injections.

Productivity in local authorities will be increased i projects

are required to achieve protability and/or cost savings withina specied period or old. Allowing wasteul projects to endautomatically as their unds run out will prevent resourcesbeing continually deployed to ailing projects. This measure



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limits the potential losses to the local authority. Furthermore,local authorities would be conditioned to emphasise achievinga return on capital. This would reduce any propensity to provideinitial nance or loss-making schemes.

The divide between statutory and non-statutory services willpersist. However, this innovation und oers the potentialto achieve cost savings in statutory service provision. Onceevidenced this could acilitate the transer o unds romstatutory services to these projects. This could occur undercouncils ill-dened and potentially all-encompassing powero general wellbeing. The innovation und would allow publicservants to operate independent o their discrete departmentsto break down the silos that aect delivery. Individuals wouldbe given greater fexibility to concentrate on outcomes ratherthan processes.

Does local government possess the skills to make this

happen?

In addition to the provision o small-scale, short-term seed

capital, local authorities would need to build the skills base otheir workorce. Projects would need to be supported in theollowing ways:

Full management commitment to second sta toparticipate in these start-ups: This would include theintroduction o fexible working practices where employeescould devote one or two days work a week to create asocial enterprise. Reduced sta hours and voluntary leave

is a eature o private sector enterprises. The public sectorcould replicate this as an alternative to job cuts.

Incorporation o these projects into the perormanceassessment process or local government employees:Employees would be ree to choose not to initiate anenterprise. However, the creation o a successul entitycould count towards accelerated career progression.

Advice on how to create a social or commercial enterprise:

This could be provided by the council through a mentoringprogramme or contracted out to an external provider.Simple matters such as where to register and how could beanswered via this programme.



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Advice on how to trade-mark or ranchise services:Rochord District Council is currently considering this route,or example trade-marking the scheme, design, logo and

selling it to other councils.This service could be providedor entities wishing to achieve ull commercial status at aee.

Seconding employees to work in commercial enterprisesalready occurs within the public sector. Senior civil servants canundertake placements in commercial enterprises. These can lastor variable durations o 100 days, a year or more. Employeeremuneration is provided by the host enterprise, the civilservice or a split between the two organisations.

Local authorities could operate a similar arrangement. Stacould opt to go part-time to run these new commercialenterprises. This would achieve a reduction in council stangcosts. Local authorities could charge their employees time ora proportion o it to the enterprise. This would recover stangcosts against the innovation loan provided. Alternatively localauthorities could allocate their sta a designated number o

days (per week or in total) to operate these enterprises. Manylocal authorities already operate a similar scheme oering statime o to pursue charitable purposes.

Incorporating these programmes into the career progressionpath or local authorities could change the nature o localgovernment. Many o the individuals undertaking innovativeprojects were older. It could be suggested that they hadthereore already achieved the rank they wished to achieve.

Certainly, none described their involvement in these projectsas designed to achieve career advancement. Installing thisoption as one or all individuals within ve years o completingthe graduate training scheme would ensure that many uturelocal government leaders have the opportunity to experienceoperating a commercial entity. Relatively junior members osta would also be able to interact with the Chie Executive.The projects they propose would seek to ll perceived needs.This would provide the councils leadership with valuable

inormation about the perceptions o junior members o sta.

Individuals leading the innovative projects eatured revealedthe need or the provision o support services similar to



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those eatured above. Stephen Irwin, Blackburn Museum,said projects need [a] mentor or advisor to inorm peoplehow to progress a project... like any sole trader, you cant sell

products and develop them at the same time. [You] need to

fnd money to do it. It is a ull-time job.By creating a demandor this product, the private market is likely to create supplierso advisory services. The Social Enterprise Coalition alreadyprovides extensive guides on the necessary steps to orm theseenterprises. Further, as the und endures, past recipients ounding could begin to act as mentors to new programmes.

What are the potential threats to this approach?The existing local government culture can operate to stifeinnovation. This new und structure attempts to providea solution to this problem. However, some actors couldundermine it. Local authorities should be mindul not to allowthe ollowing issues to occur:

Providing insucient start-up capital to allow the undto achieve prominence: This und could become a token

und or local authorities pet projects i it is not managedaccording to the criteria specied here.

Extending the criteria or loan distribution to includemultiple dierent actors: The criteria should be keptsimple. Multiple criteria will sap the creative urge o theentrepreneurs and deplete und resources on excessivecompliance.

Making withdrawals rom the und or use it to und projects

which do not create a rate o return or cost savings to thecouncil.

Applying a prohibitive interest rate on projects biddingto become social enterprises: This would deter peopleapplying to run projects and endanger the potentialprotability o the project.

Allowing middle management to reuse fexible working

or reduced hours or their skilled sta: I able council stacannot engage in this scheme it is unlikely to succeed. Thisscheme should not become a means or local authoritiesto shit problem employees out o their workorce without



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ring them.

A proportion o these social/commercial enterprises will ail.

What this proportion is we cannot predict. However, this ispart o the process o innovation. Imposing a specied

small is beautiful / innovation from the frontline of local government #gov20

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