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Can the ‘Total Place' programme deliver the huge efficiencies demanded from local authorities? asks Robert Hill. Big figures dominated the Budget. Government borrowing this year will be £175bn. The national debt, as a proportion of the national's wealth (GDP), will increase from last year's level of 43% to more than 76% by 2013/14. Given the scale of these numbers, finding another £9bn in efficiency savings on top of the £6bn already budgeted for may not sound like such a big number or such a big challenge. But it will be tough. Very tough. That's already been picked. And it's partly because the overall financial settlement for public services will now be incredibly tight. Public spending, which had been due to go up by a meagre annual average of 1.2% in real terms from 2011/12 onwards, will now rise by just 0.7%. Pensions, benefits, tax credits, debt payments and commitments to the NHS and schools will more than account for that increase – leaving other local public services to feel the pain. Capital spending is being pruned even more drastically. This time last year, the chancellor was predicting capital spending running at £41bn a year. Under his current plans, it will have declined to around half that figure in 2013/14. In addition Sir Michael Bichard, in his contribution to the Operational efficiency programme published on the eve of the Budget, highlighted the idea of local agencies in a place coming together to deliver their shared objectives more efficiently. By identifying their total spend in an area, agencies should be able to reduce duplication, rationalise effort and make savings. For example, take the issue of families needing intense support. The public sector's engagement with a particular dysfunctional family could cover anything, from providing a health visitor, childcare, schooling, parenting support, diabetes treatment, to counselling, visits from the education welfare officer and benefits and jobs' advice – as well as enforcing anti-social behaviour orders and chasing rent arrears. Whether these services overlap and how well they integrate with each other is an open question. The same applies to other services. ‘Total Place', as the programme is called, aims to map spending and incentivise more efficient joint working. But it poses some big issues for local government. First, there are some big challenges. The 13 pilot areas which have been selected (see box) will be expected to show, by the time of the pre-Budget report this November, that they have been able to map – or be well on their way to mapping – their combined spending, and can see where there is potential for improved outcomes at lower cost. This will not be easy. Agencies will also need to show they have the capacity to put the interests of their place above those of their institution, if this work is to go anywhere. Second, there are big opportunities. The Treasury report recognises that Total Place might need to involve reforming the National Indicator Set, strengthening local area agreements, while streamlining national requirements, making funding streams more flexible and joining up inspection and value-for-money targets. There is even a hint that local strategic partnerships might need to be strengthened. Third, there are big risks. Some senior managers or councillors will argue that the 13 pilots, if they are successful, are setting up the rest of local government to cut public spending in their area. On the other hand, the whole place-making agenda – and local authorities' role in it – could be discredited, if the pilots show they cannot deliver anything meaningful. If realising efficiency is going to be more than the usual parade of ‘bleeding stumps', to use Chris Patten's infamous term, or if authorities are to avoid retrenching at the expense of others, then Total Place has to be the right way forward. But will it deliver? The big unresolved question is whether Total Place can, in fact, make a total difference to the way we relate to and organise public services. Robert Hill is an independant polict analyst

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WHITEHALL

A place for savings?

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