Total place - Discussion paper

Dhar-Bhattacharjee, S; Baldwinson, T; Roy, S; Thomas, A

Abstract

Total Place – Pooling public money
Total Place was a Labour Government initiative which started last year in April 2009 in Bichard’s work Operational Efficiency Programme, which looked at the scope for efficiency savings in the public sector. It initially started with 13 pilot areas across England and was set up as a new direction for local public services and local authorities with a certain amount of flexibility that defined a new relationship with the Goverment. The initiative aimed to bring together elements of central government and local agencies within a place – hence the name ‘Total Place’. It aimed to show how a place-based approach to local public services could deliver better outcomes and improved value for money. It placed local authorities and their partners at the forefront to assess the local public service spending, eliminate waste and reduce duplication of work to focus on people and their needs. In total the 13 pilots mapped £82 billion of public spending within their areas, which is about one-fifth of the total public spending in England. The estimated total amount of all public spend not just for the pilot themes varied from £2.2 billion in Lewisham to £22 billion in the Manchester city-region pilot, the later being the biggest pilot in England. A wide range of themes were chosen for the pilot areas from children’s services to worklessness, housing, drugs and alcohol misuse and offender management. The pilots have proved that real savings are possible through the Total Place scheme and of the benefits possible from strong local leadership. However, according to a Publicnet survey, it was shown that most public bodies knew nothing about Total Place, because Whitehall departments remained silent. Other than the 13 pilot areas, the Total Place initiative was not publicised very well.

The Single Offer and the Innovative Policy Offer
The Government will develop a ‘Single Offer’ for the highest performing places with strong partnership arrangements. This will be done to identify how radical freedom and flexibilities can deliver significant improvements in outcomes and greater savings. The Total Place approach is intended to test these ideas, and the places which demonstrate high performance will be invited to make an ‘offer’ to Government for how they can deliver better outcomes and additional savings by re-designing services around users of public services in line with the Total Place approach. These offers will initially identify the scope of the proposal, a comparatively small number of locally-defined outcomes (up to 10) for which services could be redesigned to deliver better results against the set targets. Local authorities should be able to demonstrate an effective cost-benefit analysis to justify the need for the proposal at the same time engaging with the communities and the third sector in design and delivery. There should be clear evidence of partnership and use of appropriate pooled or aligned budget arrangements that outlines accountability arrangements, governance, funding structures and a local memorandum of understanding across local organisations.
The Government and the places will work together to co-design the agreed Single Offer and mutually agreed approaches will be incorporated into agreements between the Government and the places. This was expected to come into force from April 2011, just originates from the previous Government. Such places would benefit from using resources flexibly and reducing burdens on the frontline. The Single Offers was predicted to run for a period of 3 years with an interim report for the 2012 Budget.
For partners who might not be eligible for the Single Policy Offer, but shows evidence of strong partnership working or strong performance in particular policy areas would be able to make a similar proposal which could then be taken forward in the same way. This is the Innovative Policy Offer and primarily focuses on strong performance on particular policy domains.
Other Total Place services
As of now, with the change in Government, the Total Place initiative is officially not continuing under the ‘Total Place’ banner and there is a high probably that it will be rebranded and redefined to meet changing priorities. Nevertheless, the general philosophy and budget benefits are considered to be useful to the new Government's agenda. Currenrly, in the Manchester city region, the Total Place pilot initiative is being continued under the city region pilot.
The pilots nationally have the potential to extend their field trials especially in looking into co-designing approaches to worklessness. The other areas where Government support might be availble are looking into Total capital and asset pathfinders in the regions to improve capital investments and transform services, or to develop new approaches to using cost-benefit analysis tools to test proposals for local ‘productivity funds’ to increase places’ freedom to support investment in preventive actions. These are the areas where Manchester City Council could likely position themselves to work with local partners and agencies.
Future work options for CCI and University of Salford
The University of Salford was involved in the Total Place Manchester city region and Warrington pilot scheme in undertaking research into setting standards to reduce health inequalities. It looked at the delivery of health services emphasizing the role of prevention action ensuring children have the best opportunity to reach their full potential. The University’s continuous involvement is this instance is very likely, and this could possibly lead to increased partnership with local organisations and other research activities.

The previous Government’s March 2010 Budget made it clear that the Young Person’s Guarantee of a job, training or work experience underpinned by the Future Jobs Fund, will be extended into 2011-2012. However, the new Government announced on May 2010, the closure of the Future Jobs Fund, and further details are excepted to be announced on the 22nd June 2010 Budget statement. A key strategic objective would be to get as many young people not in education, employment or training as possible back to work within the construction industry for at least a period of 1-3 years. There are one quarter of a million unemployed people in the Manchester city region. As it evident, people who are on benefits are a cost to the economy and have added implications in the loss of tax revenue.

Citation

Dhar-Bhattacharjee, S., Baldwinson, T., Roy, S., & Thomas, A. Total place - Discussion paper

• Report Type: Discussion Paper
• Deposit Date: Nov 4, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 4, 2010