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The mood among many public sector leaders is, understandably, sombre and subdued at the moment. Normally confident, effusive individuals have suddenly gone very quiet of late. The latest funding announcements from the Government have sent some councils into an inward-looking, frantic search for urgent budget savings. Immediate redundancy announcements linked to the in-year funding cuts have had a big impact on some organisations. Donna Hall is chief executive of Chorley BC Partner organisations in LSP meetings suddenly can't commit to early intervention and prevention projects we have been working on together for months. So, how do we approach this challenging period? In my personal view, we need to: Explore, seriously, the savings and service improvements which can be generated by shared management teams and staffing arrangements across councils, and learn from those which have tried it already Focus on what really matters to local people. Take a cold, hard look at other things we are doing and, if they add no value to the customer, stop doing them. ‘Things that come into existence cling to existence' as the saying goes... Be bold – stop doing it, and our customers won't actually notice a difference Not be distracted from our corporate transformation programmes – it's here where costs will be driven down and services improved Generate income by supporting other councils which need support in delivering their transformation programmes – but not support from inflated consultancies with no experience of delivery Start at the top with any restructuring – tackling senior level lethargy earns respect among staff. Modern councils need ‘can do' people with lots of energy and fresh ideas to take us forward Encourage partners to stay committed to early intervention and prevention programmes, despite funding pressures. Keeping a child in school, or a person out of hospital or in prison saves the public sector a fortune. Stopping this work is a false economy. It's big savings in the way we run our public sector back offices that we need to focus on going forward Engage our frontline staff in the process of delivering on the above. We have a ‘listening day' planned in the next two weeks to engage all of our staff in the questions set out in the prime minister's recent letter to public sector workers. We will genuinely take on board their experience, as we have always done in Chorley. In addition, we have a special efficiency award for the team or individual with the most effective idea for organisational or service improvement and cost saving. It will require hard decisions to be taken and to be stuck to. It will be interesting, demanding, challenging. It will take all our energy and imagination – but that's why we work in local government.

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WHITEHALL

District View

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