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Support for public sector professionals in 2011 must not be limited by our imagination or by geography, says Lord Bichard The first few months of the year are traditionally a time for reflection and planning for the year ahead. For professionals working in the public sector, this January is a time to review how services might work, or even be improved, under austere conditions. (Pic:Flickr/HNM_1977/Voldis Torms) The direction of travel for this coalition government is now clear. There will be radical decentralisation coupled with greater autonomy for local communities and institutions, and a stronger focus on outcomes – and much less money. In this environment, professionals need to be able to access expertise, knowledge and good practice to drive up standards and save money. And although face-to-face mentoring and sharing among peers within a local community is undeniably valuable, in this day and age, what is considered to constitute a community needs to be more permeable and flexible. That's what the intelligent use of technology and the networking opportunities it brings can offer us. We urgently need to take advantage of these opportunities, if professional development is not to be an early casualty of austerity and decentralisation. After all, local authorities are already reducing or disbanding their school support teams, primary care trusts are disappearing altogether, and social workers are being asked to take on larger case loads which will limit the time available for networking and professional development. Lord Bichard: ‘Grasp opportunities' But maybe the old model of multiple teams providing professional support in every single local authority was, in any event, nearing the end of its natural life. Perhaps we can square this particular circle by looking at smart ways of using the Internet and knowledge-management to ensure that autonomy does not mean isolation, and that professional development and peer support grows stronger. For example, there must be common ground between professionals working in the same arena, whether they are in Newcastle or Newport. Why not offer them shared access to one source of expert advice? Why host and maintain a case study or policy library in every local authority, when you only need one really good resource for the whole country? Why not enable the best professionals to connect online and mentor less experienced staff from Carmarthen to Cambridge? The idea of professionals working together to share ideas and guidance has already been put forward as a way to cut costs, for example, an ‘outstanding' school helping a ‘good' school nearby to improve. However, we must be careful not to ignore the opportunities that new technology offers public sector professionals to work with their peers on a national basis. In 2011, there is no reason to limit ourselves by geography. Lord Michael Bichard is a former chief executive and permanent secretary and a former head of the Institute for Government

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WHITEHALL

Technology is the key

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