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John Atkinson gives his monthly update on the Total Place pilot programme. This month's pre-Budget report (PBR) represented the first big milestone for the Total Place pilots, and it is fair to say that it was not quite what was expected. "The pilots can take this [Smarter Government] white paper as a clear statement of support from government for their work, which builds on the increasingly close work they are doing with Whitehall departments." Early findings from the pilots, and from some of the parallel places, were submitted to inform the report, and it contained less about Total Place than perhaps we imagined when we set out on the project. But what turned out to be of far greater significance – you can never second guess a government after all – was the white paper published days earlier. There is a clear endorsement from the prime minister of Total Place in the ‘Smarter Government' paper. For example, the paper commits to letting local areas guide resources through more devolution to local agencies and de-ringfencing funding, combined with reducing the number of different funding streams. Although some of the measures might be less ambitious than we would have asked for, this document signifies a clear shift in direction from the centralising instincts of Whitehall to a more balanced relationship between the government and local places. We are on the way to seeing places that are able to shape and influence the nature of public service delivery in their area to a much greater extent. A fundamental tenet of Total Place is that only by starting from the perspective of residents will we get the very most out of the state's work and investment in a place, and therefore open up the real potential to do things much better, for less cost. The pilots can take this white paper as a clear statement of support from government for their work, which builds on the increasingly close work they are doing with Whitehall departments. Over the last few months, pilots with similar themes have come together for workshops with representatives from different departments, to see how much further and faster they can progress their work. The main thematic areas are children and young people; asset management; drugs and alcohol misuse; and offender management, and other groups have come together to focus on young people not in employment, work or training, and housing. It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that the persuasive influence of the Total Place learning and methodology is becoming increasingly clear. ‘Total Capital' has been set up with the Homes and Communities Agency to explore how aligning capital funding streams in areas could lead to greater efficiency. The project was influenced by Durham's pilot, which focuses on housing, and is an example of how Total Place can and should lead to other spin-off projects where agencies work together to find solutions to their particular issues. Thanks to the workshops, some common threads have emerged and representatives from the pilots, the Treasury and CLG, met earlier this month to develop the shape of the pilots' final report to be submitted by February, for the Budget. Key to this will be the interweaving of what needs to change, and what that change will achieve – it is not just about a number, it is about what we need to do differently if we are really going to get better for less. One of the most signifi cant questions that Total Place has so far posed is that of local leadership and governance – we need changes in local accountability if the lessons from Total Place are to be implemented. This is a far from straightforward question to resolve as it can involve different spatial levels for different services. Perhaps what we are looking for is what I will describe as "iPhone governance" – a fixed framework that also allows the local creation of innovative applications to resolve local issues. In January, several of the pilots' leaders and chief executives plan to meet with representatives from Whitehall and other organizations to explore how we might resolve this issue, and what the potential next stages might be. The onus is therefore on all of us, central and local, to carry on with our work to make sure that by Budget 2010 we have built the case to take this groundbreaking project forward to the next stage. John Atkinson is managing director of the Leadership Centre for Local Government

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Looking ahead to the Budget

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