For our first blog post, the Local Government Minister shares examples of councils and local services working together...
Better local services are about putting people first – meeting their needs first time and providing taxpayers value for money. By making sure councils and other local services work together and act earlier we can prevent problems before they begin, make sensible savings which protect frontline services and give you the support, care and job prospects you deserve.
There are a lot of great examples of this around the country. I was recently in Durham where I met an amazing set of volunteers who are taking a range of public services into people's homes rather than relying on those people to access the service themselves – everything from advice on preventing crime and fires, help with healthy living and identifying dementia.
For an elderly widow with limited mobility this service is absolutely invaluable – the alternative might have been multiple trips to different advisers or, realistically, it might have meant she asked for no support at all.
In Norfolk, local authority social workers and NHS staff are working together to provide a better, more coherent service to new mothers whose babies are at risk of being taken into care. Thanks to the government's Transformation Challenge Award, their successful pilot programme is being expanded so more mums across the county can benefit from this improved service.
In west Cheshire, local residents who want help to get work can access all the advice they need in one place rather than being pushed from pillar to post. Work Zones in unemployment hot spots bring together staff from the council, housing trusts, Jobcentre Plus and local colleges and provide a seamless service for people who are struggling to find work not just because they lack the skills but also because they have housing, debt and health problems.
In all these places, councils and local public services recognise they can no longer act alone. They have to work together to reduce duplicate costs and create better local services which provide support where and when people need it.
The government is doing a lot to help create better local services, including important financial help through the Transformation Challenge Award. The £5.3 billion Better Care fund and the Troubled Families programme are two more examples of how we are working in partnership with local services to transform the help and support people receive.
There are plenty of other great examples around the country – however, more needs to be done and at a faster pace if public services are to be financially sustainable over the long-term. And that means sharing the best ideas and the best successes so we all move forward more quickly.
In the coming weeks and months I and others will be using this blog to highlight some of those examples, but I also want others to shout about their own success. Not just because they should be proud of what they have done, but because others can learn from what they have already achieved.
If you have something to share, get in contact with the Public Service Transformation Network.
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