New year, new reputations
It’s time to get away from the Nintendo Wii’s, Bratz Dolls and High School Musical DVDs and start to think about some New Year resolutions.
Local government has to resolve to be more confident in its own capabilities, aspirational in its ambitions and to forge ahead in areas where it can make real differences to the quality of life for individuals and the communities in which they live. Maybe this will help boost a reputation for local government as the trusted local community champion.
This is, of course, the same vision as central government has proclaimed for local government through its place-shaping rhetoric and ambition to see ‘strong and prosperous communities’. I hope, however, that local government will not buy the hype that says can achieve all of this by divesting any delivery role and concentrating exclusively on being ‘strategic’. Strong evidence continues to emerge which shows councils need to maintain organizational capacity in order to be strategic and influence the local area by delivering a place shaping agenda.
Opportunities are beginning to appear where local government can show the public that it is uniquely placed to join up local services and deliver solutions that are tailored to local need.
There are calls for a significant transfer of adult social care functions from the NHS to local government to respond to the changing demographics of the UK's aging population. Indications are that local government will increasingly be expected to take a lead role in ill health prevention particularly amongst older citizens.Recent announcements also identified that local government is seen as having a key role in the upcoming Children’s Strategy.
In terms of climate change, local government has the legislative power and is, again, ideally placed to be the local champion on this critical issue. Delivering affordable housing is another major challenge where local authorities will have a key role to play in delivering the local answers – with 3m new homes needed by 2020, the local government role is surely integral to any successful strategy.
Having highlighted areas where local government can increase its scope and influence, it would also be remiss of me not to mention the financial pressures that every authority is facing; the efficiency agenda will also force them to continuously examine the competitiveness of all services. This should not be used to pursue strategies based on ever-decreasing levels of service provision however. Innovation and entrepreneurship need to be applied to offset limitations placed on finances.
After all, local authority reputations in the long term are made and lost by residents’ experiences when consuming the services provided on their behalf.
Paul O’Brien is chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE)
