The Inner Circle View on the English Devolution White Paper

The Government’s devolution aims have been summed up so far in headlines focusing on mayoral powers and the consolidation of councils. But this week’s white paper in fact reveals an urgent demand for reform and renewal.

Specifically, it demands reform to deliver growth and housing, reform to focus on prevention and reform to restore trust in politics and institutions. Those demands insist we move beyond the narrow ambition – a focus on ‘safe and legal’ and an over-reliance on off-the-shelf business cases - of previous re-organisations. For this moment to yield a smaller number of organisations working as before would be a dismal failure for all involved.

Instead, we will be supporting clients to plot a response that can establish local public services fit for the big challenges of the next 50 years. This means designing in these goals from day one and reflecting on the following:

·      Places are pivotal to growth and the delivery of much-needed housing of all tenures and prices. We welcome the proposal for greater local strategic leadership of this agenda, including the alignment of national institutions such as Homes England. New authorities should play a more intentional role, leveraging their planning power, land holdings, balance sheets and investment strategies to shape their economies for the benefit of those who need growth and homes the most. Consolidation and scale will bring benefits, but these can be amplified through the deliberate design of new operating models that fulfil this ambition while managing risk. Key will be the design and purpose of the new and existing MCAs and their fit with new or repurposed unitary authorities. They will all have a part to play in delivering the growth we need, but how they interface, and the sequence of their implementation, will be a complicating factor. While some will want Government to colour in this detail, it will more likely be down to local places and leaders to navigate and deliver arrangements that make most sense to them.

·      New service delivery models are needed if local public services are to successfully pivot towards prevention, the alleviation of the root causes of demand and the co-option of ‘community power’ in support of this. Too many households hold risk factors most associated with the drivers of crisis and distress. But public services all too often understand and respond to these issues episodically and only once a service need has manifest. The horizontal integration of services across local government, health and employment support; a progressive, symbiotic relationship with communities; and the adoption of deep relational practice is proven to cut cost and deliver better outcomes. Achieving this in a two-tier setting has always been challenging. We believe new organisations can be designed from first principles to overcome these barriers and support people to live better lives. We also believe that Government should be less equivocal in its desire to see Mayors exercising influence and leadership of the local health systems. This shouldn’t be optional – in our view, it is essential.

·      Trust is a commodity much in demand and scarce in supply. Building trust between people and between people and the state should be a conscious goal of any change and reform. The white paper focuses on the importance of Mayors in providing a locus for leadership, accountability and belief. However, we know that trust is won or lost in a multitude of interactions. Some are mundane: the missed bin or the inability to transact at a time or through a means of our choice. Some are profound: gaining support for a loved one who needs extra help, getting support if you lose your job, or having the right information about a new development proposed close to your home. In these moments we assess whether public services are on our side and have our best interests at heart. People won’t always agree, and won’t always hold the same truth about context or intention. But delivering new organisations provides the opportunity to reimagine how we may orchestrate engagement, discussion and consensus in ways that reflect how we live and the different realities that constitute the place we call home, be that our street, town or county. All options for this should be on the table, from the exploitation of new technology, experiments with direct and participatory democracy and the adoption of neighbourhood working arrangements.

·      The adoption of new technology, pushing the boundaries of AI, automation and machine learning, can rarely deliver substantial benefits without the need for corresponding organisational change and leadership. We are deeply sceptical of any solutions that can be described as “out of the box” or “plug and play”. Often the opposite turns out to be the case. We wouldn’t upgrade your home wiring after replastering the walls – so here too we would highlight the risk and consequence of putting off ‘messy’ seeming things to a later date. Building new organisations provides the perfect opportunity to consider and assess prevailing systems and their ability to meet the demands we will have of them in years to come. In truth this means designing for outcomes and not for technology.

We await more detailed plans. But we are excited to work with the willing to help to raise and maintain ambition and momentum, to provide support and help deliver results. And to be part of the movement to build something better.