Fast forward to the future

So, the future has been decided, the community leadership issue settled and the hierarchy of local service delivery made clear.

The recent white paper from DCLG ‘Strong and prosperous communities’ (download the pdf here) outlines a number of significant and far reaching issues which will have an appreciable impact at BCU delivery level. These include, performance frameworks, delivery structures, leadership roles and models and responsibilities.

The momentum behind transforming public services to make them more citizen focused is maintained and developed in this document. It clearly states that ‘People expect the choice and personal service they get in the private sector to be part and parcel of how public services function. So a key theme of this White Paper is the idea of reshaping public services around the citizens and communities who use them – consulting, involving and encouraging them to have a say about the sort of services they want’.

Consequently the duty to consult more widely, understand more fully and be significantly more responsive, are key components of this document. Going forward, the importance of user satisfaction and confidence as integral dimensions of an effective and balanced performance regime cannot be overstated. Whether the delivery agency concerned be the police or the local authority.

The service is completely focused on performance (albeit within a very narrow view) and I have had much enjoyment recently watching senior colleagues response to their daily morning force/BCU performance text messages and subsequent ACPO led conference calls.

Senior colleagues from across the country recently met with the Home Secretary qnd discussed issues such as police funding, workforce flexibility, pay linked to performance, protective services and police governance (see the blog of the North Wales DCC here).

Clearly these are all issues of huge importance to delivering the business, but so is recognising and understanding the wider changing business landscape within which we operate, and I do wonder how much awareness there is in the service of a paper that has come from DCLG and not the Home Office.

The alignment of performance regimes continues to take place: PPAF becoming APACS (Assessment of Policing and Community Safety Services) and CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) becoming Comprehensive Area Assessment. The DCLG White Paper is clear about the need for alignment of these regimes. It states that: Separate performance frameworks will continue to operate for partners, for example Primary Care Trusts, police and Jobcentre Plus. However, these separate arrangements will, where necessary, be reformed to ensure that they align with the performance framework for partnership-working with local authorities that we are proposing here.

There is no doubt anymore (if there ever was) who has primacy in local leadership and service delivery. The Local Authority and the Chief Executive (whether that be a directly elected mayor, a directly elected executive of councillors, or a leader elected by his/her fellow councillors with a clear four year mandate). It’s the start of a brave new world with clear echoes and similarities to systems and models found in that other new world, America.

Colleagues need to rapidly understand the developing landscape and its probable impact.