The Future Shape of Barnet Council
Background
Barnet has been recognised as a high performing council which is delivering high quality services to its residents, whether that's picking up bins, emptying recycling boxes, keeping our streets and parks clean, or looking after vulnerable adults and children.
However, year on year we are getting the minimum possible increase in money from the Government to provide these services, as well as having to deal with big new problems like obesity and climate change. This means we have to keep doing more with less money.
We are also receiving regular feedback from our public consultations and engagement exercises that our residents want us to change the way that we provide services to them, such as personalised assessments for our more vulnerable residents, giving them more choice and independence about the way they live their life.
We are committed to meeting these challenges with our partners – such as the NHS, police and local businesses – but, at the same time, we also have to keep providing regular services to our residents at the same high level, but at lower costs.
This means that just continuing to do what we have always done is no longer an option, we have to do things differently to meet the challenges outlined above and ensure that Council Tax stays at an acceptable level.
That’s why, last year, the council’s Cabinet Members asked for proposals to be developed about how the council can start to address these big problems that our communities want us to solve while, at the same time, keeping costs low and providing good services. This piece of work is called the “Future Shape of the Council” project.
What is the Future Shape of the Council examining?
The programme board has been asked to look at questions such as:
- What type of council do our residents need in the future?
- What do we do well and what do other people do well or better?
- What changes could we make as a council that would be better for our residents?
- What skills do we need for the future?
What research is being carried out?
The project is looking at different ways of working that would do three things:
- Deliver high quality services
- Join up services delivered by different public sector organisations in the borough so that they are better for residents to use
- Find new ways of doing things where we can do so to improve quality and reduce costs.
Models being looked at include: private providers (outsourcing), joint venture companies, arms length organisations and direct provision by the Council.
It is recognised that the council cannot just continue what it currently does – this is not an option. It has to look at delivering fewer services directly to free up space to deal with the most important issues.
What happens next?
Last December, the council’s Cabinet asked the Future Shape team to produce a more detailed analysis of how services could be delivered in the future.
Council staff, partners, and services users have been helping with this piece of work. The first stage of recommendations are being published in the ' Future Shape of the Council' Cabinet paper and were agreed by Cabinet on 6 of July.
A summary of the key recommendations can be found in our July press release on the future shape of the programme. Work is now underway to implement these recommendations. A final report on the current phase of the programme will be debated at Cabinet in October 2009.
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