Summit Workshop: From Strategy to Innovation
From Future of Local Services to the Public
Contents |
Summary
For the afternoon period during the LGA Futures 'Summit Workshop', delegates, (made up of 33 senior stakeholders working across local and central government, the private and voluntary sectors, think tanks and academics) were asked to use the issues identified through previous consultation exercises and available on this wiki (the benefits of such an online portal being discussed by Ford and Murphy, 20081) to identify opportunities or areas for innovation. On the basis of the way that issues were clustered earlier in the day, delegates were seperated into four groups, two of which investigated 'new ways to work and share', one looked at, 'feeling safer and identifying with one another' and the last discussed, 'green systems'.
New ways to work and share: Slow Motion Crises
The first group looking at innovative ways of partnership working reflected upon the ability of local partners to work effectively together during a crisis and considered if any lessons learnt during this experience could be distilled and made to apply to problem solving more generally. This discussion was prompted by a delegate who had experienced this during the recent problems of flooding in the UK and resulted in the formation of a 'slow motion crisis' group, a collection of individuals from a variety of sectors bought together and given time and space to present solutions for a specific local problem.
New ways to work and share: One Somewhereshire
The second group considering innovative models of partnership working discussed improved and unified systems of recruitment across local partners and as a result came upon the formation of 'One (Oxford)shire' (the Oxford in the title reflecting the delegate with the final say as to the name but the product was designed to be applied in any Local Authority).
Feeling safer and identifying with one another: Clonesville
The group looking at community cohesion and safety presented the idea of a 'Fun Family Friday' in the centre of 'Clonesville' as a response to the issue of underage drinking and teenagers intimidating people on the streets of the town by gathering in large groups.
Green systems: C21st Rag and Bone or Steptoe Change
'Steptoe Change' was the title of the innovation developed by the group looking at a systems approach to the issue of waste and recycling. This opportunity was concieved as a shared endevour across local partners looking at all aspects of the issue and developing it as a campaign with a wide buy-in across public, private and voluntary sectors.
References
1Ford, N & Murphy, G (June 2008) 'Evaluating the potential of a web-based portal to support the leverage of professional expertise across local authority boundaries' Local Government Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3, 397-418
