Barking and Dagenham LBC chief executive, Rob Whiteman, will soon be taking charge at the IDeA. He talked to Heather Jameson about his plans and priorities for the agency.

Rob Whiteman is a busy man. Not only is he still working as the chief executive of Barking and Dagenham LBC, he is also preparing for his new role as managing director of the Improvement and Development  Agency (IDeA) for local government - and he has been appointed as chair of the emergency planning board for Doncaster MBC.

Speaking to The MJ in the run-up to the general and local authority elections, he describes his preparation for the new post.

Already, he has kicked-off a consultation on the role of the IDeA to find out exactly what the sector wants from it. So far, he has written to chief executives, and will speak to leaders after the elections are complete – but already a picture is emerging. He is also touring the country as much as he can, in a bid to speak to local authorities across the country about what the new role entails.

‘Part of the deal to stay on in Barking and Dagenham until after the elections was that I could begin the process of transition,' Rob says. It has given him the thinking time he needs to look at what must be done in the new job. ‘The IDeA has to go through a radical change,' he says. ‘The way we have provided services in the past 10 years is very different from the way we will provide them in the next 10 years.'

After a decade of relative prosperity, local government must now learn how to become leaner and more efficient – effectively do more with less. And the role of the IDeA will have to change to meet that demand – to lead the sector through the period ahead. It must be leaner and more efficient, in the same way as Barking and Dagenham LBC and every other public sector organisation will have to. ‘We need to do fewer things, but focus on those areas where local government wants us to be.'

He is brutally honest about the staffing levels, claiming the agency will inevitably be a smaller and sleeker organisation, with fewer direct employees. Instead, it will rely on expertise within local authorities and secondees from the sector more than it does at present.

One of the roles of the agency of the future will be as a leader of the regional improvement bodies. As it stands, there is a mixed picture of regional improvement and efficiency partnerships (RIEPs) across the country, with the different agencies good at various parts of the agenda. He hopes to be able to spread good practice more efficiently through the RIEPs, and through the agency itself.