Mutiny
It’s Friday, it’s getting late, so I will keep this short. So..the control of public services is slowly shifting from central government to local communities. At the same time the growth of multi-agency work and growing collaboration between public services is raising questions over accountability, institutional boundaries and the current structures in place to guide resources and measure their effectiveness.
There is growing anecdotal evidence that individuals delivering local services are beginning to break the rules. They are collaborating outside of the traditional structures and developing their own key performance indicators (KPIs) which they measure their success on. They then translate the results in a more palatable format for the next level of government.
It's happening at the strategic level too, senior officials, bored with identifying milestones for no other reason than to tick a box are also beginning to boil in frustration, especially if it means getting away from actually doing their job which would allow them to hit that milestone in the first instance.
This is more than riling against the current command & control approach. Tired of not seeing results, angry that the current structures do not reflect the complexity of the environment they are working in officials are beginning to see the benefits of organised mutiny. Instead of stopping this the government should attempt to harness the energy that's being created. It’s a risk but it will work.
More on how this works in the future.....Charlie Edwards
Matt - I agree with a good deal of what you say but I can't help feeling you underestimate the ability of local service's to take risks - we have a number of examples of where this is happening - successfully - while also fulfilling their obligations to the centre.... however I agree it is a very difficult balancing act! Having just spent sometime with Oxford City Council I was surprised to find how progressive their veiws were on harnessing the energy of the City's population - they really do see community safety (one example) as a collaborative venture - and this will continue- catalysed by central govt's drive for greater devolution (the seeds are being sown) and the frustration from local serives that the current strucutres stifle much of e good work that needs to happen... rule breaking is going to become the new fashion for delivering public services....
Faizal Farook
We were in Wakefield last week, talking to members of Wakefield Council, during which we discovered that a young Tory councillor (and I mean genuinely young – late 20’s) was adopting exactly this approach.Frustrated by what he saw as internal council bureaucracy (and working structures set up around the needs of retired not working age councillors), he banded together with his fellow ward councillors to pool their limited allocated funds into a ‘community chest’. Using this resource they have been able to distribute money to a variety of projects across the community, whilst bypassing cumbersome council mechanisms. The councillors were therefore able to respond nimbly to the needs of their ward and maintain vital community momentum, so often lost through drawn out approval processes. The councillor we spoke to highlighted a recent successful project where they had agreed funding to a local sports club on the proviso that they run regular training sessions for youngsters in the area. As a result, he says they have witnessed a visible reduction in anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood.The Wakefield example seems to suggest that if councillors are creative, willing and brave enough, they can take advantage of opportunities to innovate that are not available to many council officers at present. By utilising the degree of autonomy that their elected position confers they could be at the forefront of a local risk taking rebellion.
Matthew Scott