The Three C's


Three C's drive our approach.

CONTEXT
  • We provide continuous insight into the thinking and programme implementation activities of key figures and colleagues across the sectors.
    • Ministers
    • Senior Civil Servants
    • Officials
    • Local authority Leaders
    • Local authority Chief Executives and Corporate Directors
    • Non Departmental Public Bodies
    • Health Leadership
    • Education Leadership
    • Third Sector Leadership
  • We provide regular personal briefings on key issues of the day via private dinners or seminars including:
    • Shared Services
    • Efficient Government
    • Asset Management
    • Skills agenda
    • Planning
    • Democratic structures (Single Transferable Vote (STV), multi member wards, elected Boards)
  • We help each organisation to understand their goals in the context of other stakeholders including
    • What are Single Outcome Agreements and why do they matter
    • What is a Community Planning Partnership and why does it matter more than ever?
    • What is SR09?
  • We develop a common narrative from multiple languages focused on
    • Shared outcomes
    • Effective Governance & Accountability
    • Shared Insights
For example

In England
  • There has been a sea change in the relationship between Central and Local Government
  • There is need to explore the City Region agenda more closely in such challenging times.
  • Implementation of Local Area Agreements remains something of a mystery to many involved
  • The engagement of Communities in Place Shaping will become a key theme in 2009
In Scotland
  • The Scottish Government will publish a bill for Public Service Reform in March 09, the content of which requires shaping, validating and stress testing.
  • There should be opportunity to extend the terms of reference of the bill to recognise the very much harsher economic climate that we are now in.
  • The need for even greater efficiency of delivery and increased de-cluttering of the organisational landscape.
  • The need to begin to deliver the additional £500 million in cost savings that is Scotland's share of the £5billion additional efficiency savings announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Pre Budget Statement
In Northern Ireland
  • The Reform of Public Administration will have far reaching consequences for Northern Ireland
  • The recently announced reform of Northern Ireland's Local Government poses many challenges
In Wales
  • The major restructuring of Health Boards will have major impact across Welsh health and social care services
  • The Welsh Assembly faces particular challenges in developing a response to the economic crisis in respect of manufacturing and assembly, and how to encourage any Inward Investment
Potential public & private sector providers of shared services, for example, cannot be expected to frame an appropriate response or prepare an effective tender to support a more efficient delivery of those shared services without fully understanding the political context at every level. It is also vital that all those involved understand the risk profile of the activity, and agree how to share risk and reward appropriately depending on the model adopted. Major contracts within the public sector are high profile, often long term but carry risk to reputation if managed inappropriately or if promises made are not kept.

This is especially true of major IT of outsourcing contracts as has been demonstrated very publicly in all parts of the UK.

We help to reduce risk for all parties by the second of "Three Cs"

COLLABORATION

We identify champions of effective collaboration across public, private and third sector or seek to work with existing partnerships or professional bodies.

We identify how shared outcomes can be created and achieved.
  • We work with and through appropriate representative and professional bodies in the public sector who can both enable but more significantly 'block' progress, especially where they encounter what they perceive to be 'ill-informed', 'clumsy' or 'patronising' private sector approaches
We build our collaborative approach into formal partnership agreement, provider agreements, and help to inform the development of Invitations to Tender.

For example:

We are working across local authorities to identify how one Scottish local authority can
  • Assist another through effectively co-provisioning of shared services
  • Reducing the cost per user for back office services and sharing project initiation costs.
  • Redirecting scarce resources to front line service provision
COMMUNITY

Community means different things to different stakeholders. We recognise that we are all the stronger if we share ideas, resources, and try to look at issues from the perspective of other stakeholders. Not least, we encourage all those we work with within the professional community to remember that the development of public policy, the provision of and improving of public services is about improving the lives of everyone, whether this be to do with:
  • the built or rural environment
  • education & life skills opportunities
  • the health of everyone
  • the prosperity of communities and individuals
If you are a private sector organisation you will rightly focus on meeting the terms of the engagement or contract. However, in a public sector environment you are almost invariably serving many more stakeholders than are immediately visible.

For example, private sector organisations often forget the importance of demonstrating their own commitment to Diversity and Human Rights policies or their tangible commitment to Energy Efficiency and Green activities. All public sector organisations must demonstrate that they are engaging with those who are in tune with a wide range of government policies.