How is the evolving mission-led agenda reshaping the environment in which we operate? That's a key question we at Local Partnerships have been spending time considering. From the Spending Review to the Industrial Strategy, and various other infrastructure and devolution bills landing of late, there is much in motion.
Each initiative carries weight, but what is becoming increasingly clear is how little they are being looked at in the round, either across central government departments or between national and local tiers. A matrix view seems distinctly lacking.
As chief executive, I find myself asking where is the connective tissue? These policies are not just technical instruments, they have real implications for how local government is structured, funded and empowered. Yet, they rarely feature in discussions around local government reorganisation (LGR) and certainly not in the daily media narrative of mainstream, or indeed, most trade press. The potential impact on unitarisation plans and LGR submissions is significant, but largely unacknowledged.
We are responding by working alongside local authorities and combined authorities to help them make sense of this fragmented landscape. Our aim is to support strategic alignment; not just with national missions, but with the realities on the ground. It is not easy, and it is not always clear where the centre is heading, but we believe that clarity and coherence are possible with the right partnerships.
This is, perhaps, a moment for wider reflection, not knee-jerk reaction. Public sector reform should be more than structural, it should be purposeful and sequenced. And that means recognising the interplay between policy, place and people.
As a trusted public sector delivery partner to both central and local government, we form a bridge between the two. We translate emerging policy into meaningful action in the communities it intends to serve.
If you would like to discuss aligning your own local authority's priorities with the Government's missions, while also dealing with the lived experience of communities, please get in touch with me at Adele.Gritten@localpartnerships.gov.uk.
Adele Gritten is Chief Executive of Local Partnerships
