Total Place was a programme aimed at all localities in England and has its origins in pilot work undertaken in Cumbria under the banners Counting Cumbria and Calling Cumbria. Public sector partners in the county cooperated in a process that produced a map of total public sector expenditure in Cumbria and began the process of exploring together how they could be more effective in spending this resource.
The term “Total Place” was adopted for this activity by Sir Michael Bichard in his contribution to the Operational Efficiency Programme (HM Treasury, April 2008). Sir Michael’s first recommendation was:
Roll out Total Place, a programme mapping total public spending in a local area and identifying efficiencies through local public sector collaboration of at least 12 pilot sites with a high level reference group to identify how to increase incentives and eliminate barriers for joint working and with Ministerial sponsorship to ensure that issues raised are addressed swiftly across Government. Government launched the programme at 13 pilot sites.
Total Place was an ambitious and challenging programme that, in bringing together elements of central Government and local agencies within a place, aimed to -
Create service transformations that can improve the experience of local residents and deliver better value
Deliver early efficiencies to validate the work
Develop a body of knowledge about how more effective cross agency working can deliver cost savings and/or better services for citizens
The Total Place pilots undertook two complementary strands of work: the ‘counting’ process that maps money flowing through the place (from central and local bodies) and the thematic/service focus through “deep dives” that explores links between services and identifies where public money can be spent more effectively, most commonly through service design around the citizen.
The Total Place pilots looked at how a whole area approach to public services can deliver better services at less cost. The main focus was on revenue spending, which accounts for nearly 87% of public expenditure. However, the Total Place work also demonstrated that there were efficiencies to be made in the management of capital and assets. Some of the Total Place pilots reported significant duplication in public sector delivery and barriers to service integration and to getting the most out of existing stock and capital investment in the physical infrastructure of a place, from homes and schools to hospitals and roads.
Total Capital and Assets Pathfinder
The Total Capital and Assets Pathfinder is an evolution from Total Place. The pathfinder explores methods to use capital (funding that results in a tangible asset with a defined life span) and assets (in this case usually buildings and land) across the public sector, in a more joined up way and using customer information to determine what and where services should be delivered in the City.
Building on the work of the Total Place pilots, a cross-departmental Government project was launched to look at how better management of capital flows and the stock of assets could be developed to promote economic growth and inclusion. This cross-cutting work consisted of four work streams, one of which focussed on capital and another on assets. A Total Place approach was adopted to explore how strategic partnerships at the local level could deliver better value for money.
The review set out to build an extensive body of evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of the current system. Some Total Place pilots had already considered asset management, including Worcestershire and Kent, and the Homes and Communities Agency HCA provided five case studies looking at capital spend. In addition, the review team interviewed 60 experts from academia, central Government, local Government, and the private and third sectors. Site visits to six local authorities were conducted and ministerial seminars were held to discuss the issues that emerged from the research. The team also drew on a wealth of previous reports from central government, academics and other government agencies. All of this data was then collated and fed into the final report, which was delivered in time for Budget 2010.
The findings from the review fed into the Budget in April. Eleven Pathfinders were identified including Hull, to work with CLG to test and develop potential ways of delivering the savings that the review identified.
Co-design is at the heart of the Total Place approach. Local and central Government work together to agree the scope and objectives in each area, and then work together to deliver the change that is needed. Pathfinder areas are responsible for delivery, with central Government role being to enable change through removing barriers at the national level.
The Total Capital and Assets pathfinder focuses on 5 specific areas of work or ‘strands’ -
Mapping Customer Demand: this element will help us to build a comprehensive picture of customer demand and journey, both now and in the future, across key process strands. Mapping Capital & Assets: this strand provides an opportunity to fully understand the extent of assets and capital investment in the City
Mapping Capital and Assets: in this element we have developed a simple methodology, which any place could use, for taking stock of existing assets (including third sector assets) and anticipated capital funding into the City. The work stream has identified the extent of the public sector estate, what issues need to be considered and where potential challenges may arise
Design Vision & Solutions: this element will help us consider and agree the future ambition for the City, using a collaborative and innovative approach to the use of assets and capital investment across the City
Design Finance: this strand leads us to consider the potential to develop innovative finance vehicles, so that we can make the most of the capital and assets in the City
Procurement & Delivery: this strand will offer us the opportunity to identify approaches for maximising social benefits, such as job creation and improving environmental efficiency
The pathfinders are split into Intensive (intensive support) and Laboratory (independent minimal support) Hull is a Laboratory pathfinder, which means we have the freedom and flexibility to design a pilot that works for Hull.
The Total Capital maps are available to download below -
Community Budget Pilots – Families with complex needs
Community based budgets are also rooted in the principles of Total Place. As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010 the Government announced 16 pilot areas, with a focus on using community budgets for improving the service to ‘families with complex needs’. The Government believes that Community budgets will put councils and their partners in the driving seat by pooling funds (revenue funds) for tackling these families' needs into one budget, so communities can develop local solutions to local problems. The Government intends to roll out community budgets nationally by 2013-14.
The Hull pilot scope includes the following high level aims:
Improve the way we deliver public service in Hull through successful community based budgeting, focusing on families with complex needs as a pilot area.
In doing so -
Generate a shared understanding of the situation of families with complex needs, the size of this group, and nature of the services they require
Identify opportunities to improve our interaction with and services for these families, whilst reducing cost to serve and removing duplication
Agree how we will transform our processes, services and ways of working locally (public, private and voluntary sectors) as we revise our relationship with central government
Highlight opportunities to broaden the application of the community based budget into other areas
Develop the roadmap and short-term plan to successfully embed the changes and make this happen
The work of the Pilot will build on our work to explore capital and assets. The work will also support our delivery of the Spending Review by allowing us to share resources and pool valuable funds in support of local priorities. The pilot will involve significant cross sector working in Hull along with joint working with Whitehall departments.
The real advantage to a city of the community budget is to offer better services, at lower cost and which are relevant and accountable to local people.
A city wide launch event was hosted by Hull City Council in early December 2010, with a broad cross section of representatives from the public sector, the voluntary and community sector and Whitehall departments getting together to consider the way forward for delivering improved services to ‘families with complex needs’ in Hull. One of the guest speakers was a service user, who gave an insight into her experience of being a service user in Hull.
Total Place launch event
Videos and transcripts of the Total Place launch event are available to view below -
Info
Hull Community Budgets Pilot (Part 1) - An overview of the event
Delivering a better outcome for families with complex needs - highlights from the event
Speaker: Nick Lawrence, Director, Families at Risk Division, Department for Education
The government`s vision for the delivery of public services through a community based budget approach
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