Cabinet Office
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Byrne fast-tracks frontline ideas for reform of public services
The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, announced a new Innovators Council made up of creative thinkers from public services, charities and businesses to help drive public service reform. The Council will fast-track ideas generated by frontline staff and citizens to deliver better and more efficient services.
The Council is part of a wide-reaching series of reforms led by the Cabinet Office, including judging departments on how well they innovate and overhauling training for policy makers.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne said:
"Public services have been transformed over the last 10 years - crime is down 40%, waiting lists are at an all-time low and school results are at an all-time high. But change in the years to come has to be driven by frontline staff - not ordered from the top. My view is very simple: frontline staff doing the job day in and day out will often see clearest what needs to change. I want those ideas put to the top tables in Whitehall without delay.
"If we want Whitehall to focus on innovation, we have to change the signals we give at the top - and the support we give policymakers at the bottom. And crucially we have to showcase the kind of innovation we want to see, in a way that keeps the 'flash-to-bang' as fast as possible.
"That's why I'm asking this panel of experts to join me in seeking out, developing and implementing the next generation of innovative ideas, ideas that will allow us to continue the reform of public services and deliver a smaller, stronger centre of Government that encourages innovation and allows it to flourish."
Published in March, 'Working Together - Public services on your side' said that radical reform in public services will play a vital role in enabling the country to come out of the recession stronger and fairer. The report put innovation at the heart of this reform.
Two pilot schemes currently being run by the Government show how simple innovative ideas can make a real difference to peoples' lives.
The Tell Us Once initiative will mean people only have to contact the Government once when their circumstances change - the idea developed from a project that helped people cope with bereavement, where frontline workers discovered how distressing it was to have to contact dozens of agencies when a loved-one died. This saves time, money and effort for all involved.
Online Free School Meals is joining up central government with local authorities to cut the time it takes to process an application from six weeks to just a few hours, making sure people get the help they need quicker and cutting administration costs too.
The Innovators Council, which draws members from the private, public and third sector and will meet for the first time in June, will be tasked with finding similar ideas.
Council member Lord Adebowale said:
"Britain has a great history of innovation in everything from engineering to music and I know that there's no shortage of innovative ideas in public services either.
"Until now they've lacked a mechanism to make their ideas heard, which is why this council is so important. I want it to be a champion for new thinking, helping the kind of people who look at an original idea and ask themselves how it can be made to work rather than worrying about why it won't.
"So if you know of a way to make public services even better, visit the website and get in touch."
The public are being asked to submit their ideas by e-mail, post or online at http://www.publicexperience.com, part of the Ministry of Justice Building Democracy initiative, where they will be able to comment on other ideas. The council will meet regularly to consider proposals, with the brains behind the best ideas being invited to pitch their plans in person.
If the council approves an idea it will recruit relevant experts to look at ways of developing and improving it, then monitor the situation to see that the plan maintains momentum and make sure it gets implemented on the frontline.
Notes to editors
1. Members of the council confirmed so far are (in alphabetical order):
* Lord Victor Adebowale, Turning Point and the Sunningdale
Institute
* Philip Bartlett, programme director at JobCentre
Plus
* Alexis Cleveland, Director General of Corporate
Services in the Cabinet Office who led the creation of the highly
innovative DWP Solutions Centre
* Matthew Coats, head of
immigration at the UK Borders Agency
* David Harker, CEO of
Citizens Advice
* Charlotte Hogg, Managing Director of
Experian UK & Ireland
* Peter Housden, permanent secretary
of Communities & Local Government and former member of the
Delivery Council.
* Cathy Garner, CEO of Manchester Knowledge
Capital
* Dr Lynne Maher, Head of Innovation Practice at the
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
* Dai Powell,
Chief Executive of the HCT Group
* Sally Russell, co-founder
of the hugely successful and highly acclaimed website
Netmums
* Philip Rycroft, Director General of the Business and
Innovation group at DIUS
* Toby Salt, Deputy Chief Executive
and Strategic Director at the National College for School
Leadership
* Rob Whiteman, CEO of Barking & Dagenham Council
2. The council will meet for the first time on 24 June. At the end of the day it will vote on the three best ideas presented, and these will be put into development and testing the next day. If detailed testing shows that the idea is workable. This process should take no more than 10 weeks at the end of which, assuming testing proves the idea to be workable, a frontline pilot scheme will be rolled out.
3. The council's remit covers public service delivery by the UK Government. It does not include the aspects of public service delivery that are devolved in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, although we work closely with the Devolved Administrations to continue our common aim of further strengthening public services while recognising the particular and responsibilities across different parts of the United Kingdom.
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