PSR Dinner - Report for Aberdeen and Glasgow

7/27/2019 PSR Dinner - Report for Aberdeen and Glasgow

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PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM DINNERS

08/05/2013 23 Carden Place, Aberdeen29/05/2013 - 2 Blythswood Square, Glasgow

INTRODUCTION

Brodies LLP and the Centre for Scottish Public Policy (CSPP)invited Leaders and Chief Executives from Local Government todiscuss the future of public service reform in Scotland. BrodiesLLP and CSPP believe that by working together and sharing ideaspublic reform in Scotland can be innovative and an improvementon the current system. By sharing the same vision of what can beachieved in this area we aim to stimulate the discussion, pushing

for a culture change that we believe must take place in order forScotland to continue to provide the best public services for thepeople.

The dinners covered the following themes:

Where does Local Government fit in the post 2014 Scotland?

What must Local Government do to drive better outcomes andtackle inequality across Scotlands different communities in arecessionary period and in light of Welfare Reform?

How can we ensure the needs of local communities are at theheart of the political and local service delivery debate?

How can we work together to shape the reform agenda goingforward?

How can Local Government lead on public service reform andmake the most of inevitable change?

However both dinners took a very different approach to addressingthese issues. At Glasgow the main focus was on the role and

training of elected members and public engagement, whilst in


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Aberdeen the focus was on the difficulty of sharing services asalthough it is a good idea in theory, it is more difficult in practice.

"A quiet revolution is taking place across Scotland'spublic service family, with a wide range of innovationsbeing introduced into the system, but if we are to meethigher public expectation, demanding increasing qualityof service against a backdrop of continuing financialconstraint, we must make more change happen faster.This is the topic we discuss at these sessions, withspecific actions being proposed as a result". RossMartin, Policy Director, Centre for Scottish Public Policy

ABERDEEN

Shared Services

Guests discussed the reasons behind shared services anddecided that geographical proximity was not the best reason adaptthis model of working. Examples of this in Aberdeen andAberdeenshire were health and social care integration and theAWPR.It was felt that despite the belief that shared services are cheaperand better this is not always true. Cooperation, coordination and

strategic direction are all encouraged but not always part of sharedservices.

One question that was also raised was, is there a need for twocouncils when it comes to cities and their surrounding areas? Itwas decided that although there are some shared services that aredone well together due to the nature of geographical locations (e.g.strategic development and planning and transport) city councilsmight have more in common with other cities rather than their

surrounding areas.

Competition

It was thought that on some level neighbouring councils arecompeting with each other as, if Aberdeen City Council installsomething in Aberdeenshire council then Aberdeenshire residentsreap the benefits. This was an important point made in relation toanswering the question - How do we marry that in with the idea of

shared services?


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Councilors also stated that there is a disincentive to promotesomething that will allow their opponent to take their seat localgovernment (e.g. electoral suicide) Is this simply the politicalbusiness cycle?

Where the power lies

It was felt that there was a level of scaremongering going on aspeople believed theres an attitude that if you dont sort this outyourself the government will come in and do it for you sosomething has to be done in the short term.

This raised the question What is the relationship between localgovernment and Scottish parliament? A similar point was raised inthe CSPPs public service reform supplement in the Herald,Reshaping Scotland, which stated that where the power lies has

never been clearly defined since the creation of parliament. Guestsfelt that in relation to Westminster it was clear where the power lay,but in Scotland this was not obvious, e.g. did Scotland need 32local authorities and chief executives in addition to parliament?

Time for change

It was thought that the referendum was perhaps an opportunity tocharacterize local government and update the language used to

talk about local vs. central government. Guests believed that thepublic service is an ever-evolving thing and goes beyond thisdebate. Guests also stated they perceived dichotomy on theScottish Governments stance on this topic as they talk aboutlocalism but then on the other hand they centralised the policeforce.

Improving Local Government

It was mentioned that the financial crisis and the resultant cutsshouldnt be an excuse for local governments performance andthat if local councilors grouped together to do what they alreadydo, well then this would be what bolsters local government; morepower to local people and decision making powers. Is placemaking to localise now due to lack of district councils?

Cant apply a private sector model on a public service area therelationship with local people is different, more complicated than

you might expect.


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The services users perspective

Guests were asks to think about public services from the serviceusers perspective. Did people feel that the publics expectationsare too high? Or did they see local government as a business withstatutory responsibility? Or are there too many elected members?

From research that CSPP carried out in A Report into FuturePublic Services Shetland said that they have 21 members but onlyneed 12. Do we need to look at the 1973 Act and start again? Thepoint was then raised that in actual fact we have the least numberof elective members in Western Europe.

The Councilor

This raised the question of What is a councilor? Are they full timeand paid? Or are they part time and a hobby? What is the best

option? Guests felt this needed to be decided; whether councilorssat on the backbench or whether they were a convener. Theconversation then moved onto the council itself. It was thought acouncil is not just one business its a conglomeration ofbusinesses a holding company.

The 7 Cities and their regions

CSPP mentioned their contribution to the work done on cities in

Scotland, encouraging the cities to come together so they andlocal government could provide a united front to speak to ScottishParliament and government with more authority. This once againraised the point of where the power lies in Scottish politics. Guestsfelt that Scottish parliament was just added in on top of existingpowers with no decision as to where new power would lie. An aimof gathering the cities together was to start to talk about urbanpolicy.

COSLA

The conversation then moved to what people felt COSLAs rolewas in local government. It was decided that the aim was toprovide unanimity around local government and power, howeveracts surrounding its management need reviewed (e.g. the 1973Act). Although COSLA is not a political entity, does it need more ofa single vision to succeed? People agreed it shouldnt be politicalas this would not be welcomed but it should be a membership

organisation.


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Willie I do think the cities are generating the growth (good forour city regions seminar? Spokesperson for Aberdeen?

What kind of place?

Our chair the asked us what words represent what we love aboutour towns and cities. The following list was our guests answers:

Boroughs - local shops, services and facilities withaccessibility to greater scale

Identity - equity of access, diversity, partnership andcollaboration

Quality, transparency of language

Early intervention, preventative spend, resource allocation,

innovation, entrepreneurship Private and public sector partnership to regeneration, a clear

vision twenty years - a localism act

Localised, engaged, public back into public services

Relevant and useful, feel good, influential yet influenced

Safe, resilient, quality services that are accessible

A Global mindset, climate. Change and economic to east

Clarity of role and responsibility. Trust. Governing anddoing?

Fun!

Questions to think about

Our Chairs final questions to leave us with were; What kind ofpublic services should we have in a future Scotland, regardless ofthe result? and What kind of country should Scotland be?


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GLASGOW

The Role of Elected Members

Guests discussed the role(s) of elected members, their widening

skill set and the need to recognise that an emerging, more diversecohort will have a potentially valuable role to play after a period inoffice, as well as during it. It was then asked how could we capturethat value for the greater good of local government or the widerpublic service family?

The point was raised that there is therefore a resultant, andongoing, need for elected members to be trained, as there areclearly defined but complex areas of responsibility such as

education and social care.

It was also seen as important that the opportunities for informaldiscussion with officers and members from other authorities toshare ideas, solutions and concerns should be encouraged andfacilitated.

Councils Control

It was voiced that there was a desire for local authorities to"muscle up" and demand greater role, function and power to betterenable councils to lead outcome focused local partnerships, suchas the Community Planning Partnerships, to deliver more creativepublic service provision. This is needed in the economic climatewe face.

Accountability

Although evidenced based policy and the practicalities of politicscan often clash, it was agreed that they must be seen within thewider context of local democratic accountability and the need forclear strategic direction which allows for some tactical derogationsfrom corporate policy. The same applies to national policy and theneed for greater local flexibility, not just of interpretation or evenimplementation but for local variation too.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)


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The role of the parties (and independent Councillors) wasquestioned in relation to the process of accountability and strategicdirection. A strong collective desire for the main parties perhapssupported by the Electoral Commission and/or local councils toprovide better CPD opportunities for existing and emerging electedmembers was called for. This could improve overall performance

of councils.

In addition it was questioned whether there could be a role for ourpublic policy and politics departments in higher educationinstitutions to assist with councillor CPD, whilst benefitting frompractical experience in the implementation of public policy.

The current system of holding council accountable via theStandards Commission process of referrals was described anirritant. SPSO demands a level of resource commitment

completely disproportionate to the level of complaint. Guestsquestioned whether the system is fit for purpose? And whatchanges could occur? There were concerns about widening theremit of SPSO but there is no additional resource to do this and aloss of local power to change the situation.

Public Engagement

It was agreed that there is not much appetite for public

engagement to drive service improvement when people feel thatservice provision is good, or even simply acceptable. It wasthought that, as there is no real ideological clash or debatebetween the parties it might be necessary to seek greater publicengagement and although the Scottish Governments expectationsare that the public wants to engage, electoral turnout wouldsuggest otherwise.

If public engagement isn't sought does it leave the council open to

challenges e.g. on the grounds of equality issues? On the otherhand, if engagement is sought only as a 'tick box' exercise doesthis have a negative impact on the perception of the council?Perhaps it is the way in which local opinion is sought that isimpacting engagement levels? Are we interacting with thecommunity in a language/forum they relate to? Or in politicaljargon they dont understand?

We also need to recognise that often a community is seen in

geographical terms. This needs to be addressed as there are


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many different 'communities' within the one area e.g. teenagers,single parents, children, the elderly etc.

Whilst the role of the Electoral Commission is to build up the rollingelectoral register, is there a joint responsibility or role with localgovernment to actively encourage greater electoral engagement

and voter participation in the process? Should each local authorityestablish a local elections committee, a cross party group taskedwith encourage greater public participation?

Councillor Performance

A strongly held view emerged within the group that differentCouncillors posses vastly different abilities with some activelyseeking to play a strategic role and others content to be the'political clerk of works' for the authority. It was recognised that

different roles can be equally valid and valuable in an organisationas complex as a local authority. It was asked how could Councilsmake sure that those with a particular skill in thinking strategicallyor engaging with the community mentor those who are not asstrong? There is a need to identify training needs here.

It was question if publishing councillor performance wouldencourage this? As currently the only required data to bepublished is elected member expenses. How can we better

describe the work of elected members through a publication ofperformance data? What metrics would be useful indicators ofeffective elected member activity? It was suggested thatcommittee attendance; voting patterns; surgeries held andconstituent queries dealt with could be a possible measure.

Social Media is a key function, utilised increasingly by electedmembers, especially each new intake, and one would hope, thatcouncil candidates are able to use the various platforms as well.

It was discussed that often the age composition of those working inlocal government is often older and therefore not likely to strike acord with the younger community are there new ways of workingthat could help diversify this age composition?

Areas for development: The next step

There are councils across Scotland who are facing similar issues,

such as adopting new models of service delivery, but they areusing entirely different approaches to address the problem.


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Documents

PSR Dinner - Report for Aberdeen and Glasgow