Local government leads on innovation

Local government is taking a lead over central government in innovative ways of sharing and transforming services, according to experts.

The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) recently published its second major report on front office shared services and held a conference on the issue, identifying key themes in public transformation such as more cohesive partnership between different tiers of local government and better customer insight.

While engagement between central and local government has improved, the stronger innovation in local government has been recognised, said Siobhan Coughlan, principal consultant at the Improvement and Development Agency.

“Local government has already taken a lead and is getting on and doing a lot. It’s ahead of central government on this agenda,” she said.

“One of the main things that has come out this year is that the national policy picture is a lot more co-ordinated between local and central government. There is now a joining up of understanding about how they can work together. It’s less about central government dictating and more about engagement and working together.”

The front office shared services research programme – a collaboration between the Local Government Association, government department Communities and Local Government, the Cabinet Office and the IDeA – explores ways of improving services to citizens through initiatives such as web portals, one-stop shops and home visiting schemes.

“Transformation is about changing your business model, so it’s no surprise that the startups, like Google, have done best here,” said Glyn Evans, corporate director for business change at Birmingham City Council.

“But while the private sector would say it’s better at innovation, it’s no better than the public sector at changing the way it works. Effective transformation involves risk management, not risk avoidance. There are already some very exciting things happening in local government, but we have to make the changes or we’ll have some real challenges to deal with.”