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The submissions from the 13 pilots last month are helping to develop the future pattern of Total Place, says John Atkinson. As autumn gets underway, the incredible amount of hard work carried out by the pilots is beginning to bear fruit. The concerted efforts of hundreds of people across the 13 areas meant that two major pieces of work have been delivered on time. John Atkinson: 'The challenge for Total Place is this need for change to be actually experienced, not analysed and reported.' Firstly, the high level counts of the total local public spend in each pilot were completed. The counting exercise was done largely for the benefit of the pilots, and while it is too early to draw detailed conclusions, it made for some interesting reading, particularly for local political leaders. We can now see the sheer scale of investment in localities – the Central Bedfordshire and Luton pilot has established that £3.4bn is spent locally, equating to £6,853 per person. What is also clear is how little of that investment is directly under local political control, due to the number of agencies involved in delivery and ring-fencing of funding. In Durham for example, housing services are provided by 25 agencies for a single county with a below average population density of 508,500. As the pilot's submission states, ‘there is an enormous opportunity for doing things better both strategically and operationally through partnership'. Secondly, all 13 submitted their preliminary findings for the interim report for the pre-Budget report (PBR), jointly produced by the LGA Group, the Treasury and CLG. The interim report will form part of Sir Michael Bichard's Operational Efficiency Programme submission for the PBR. Those initial findings have helped to frame our understanding of Total Place into three areas: work that Whitehall needs to do work that Whitehall and localities need to do together work that localities need to do in their places. Everybody involved in Total Place is now working to try to create and sustain the momentum for change which is vital if a project of this ambitious scale is going to work. The second point is about making sure the work that is going on in all the pilots, and parallel places, amounts to something tangible. For that to happen, we need to reach a tipping point. Part of that tipping point is the sheer number of places now engaged in Total Place work, a number that continues to grow as more and more councils report on the similar work they are doing with their partner agencies. These increasing numbers will continue the momentum, but the tipping point will not be reached by that alone. The pivotal issue is in the places' connection with Whitehall. The tipping point will be reached through the pilots' work with the relevant government departments on the issues raised in their PBR submissions. Once it becomes clear that by approaching problems by starting with residents and their lives and redesigning services around that, you get better results, simpler processes and reduced costs – then Whitehall and town halls will not want to go back. The critical challenge for Total Place is this need for change to be actually experienced, not analysed and reported. With our aim to achieve this by the Budget, the pilots are now starting to look in more depth at their chosen themes from the residents' perspective, at the efficiency and accessibility of services – it is here that the real potential for change opens up. •For more information visit www.localleadership.gov.uk/totalplace John Atkinson is managing director of the Leadership Centre for Local Government

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WHITEHALL

Pilots meet their deadlines

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