Focusing together on services
A new video is available to find out more about how Shropshire Council is working with communities to explore a different way of designing and delivering services.
George Candler, Shropshire Council’s director of commissioning, recently talked to Eric Smith from BBC Radio Shropshire about the new local commissioning approach.
The interview was filmed and can be viewed by clicking here.
George said:
“We are looking to ensure that services can better complement what is already happening in each community and can be custom-built, as far as possible, to each community’s needs.
“From repairing roads to supporting families, services have traditionally been delivered directly by organisations such as the council and health bodies.
“However, in future they could be delivered by a wider range of organisations in each community, with those who know their communities best, the community leaders, at the heart of this work.
“We are becoming a ‘commissioning’ council, working more closely and effectively with our partners to ensure services fit each community. Working closely with communities we will find out what is important to them, and look to make sure services focus on what we’ve been told.
“We would have more of an overseeing role, aiming to better understand what a community needs and ensuring that the best placed people are providing services.”
George added that the approach recognised that we cannot stay as we are if we want to maintain the quality of services for people in Shropshire.
“This approach, alongside others such as the setting up ip&e, Shropshire Council’s new trading company, mean we can face the challenges of the current and future economic climate as well as increasing demand from a growing number of people. At the same time, residents and visitors can continue to benefit from good services.
“By looking at new ways of working and making changes based on this work, we aim to make sure that the different organisations in each area work better together, services don’t cost more than they should, are delivered by the right people and support local jobs and economic growth.”
The approach involves working with town councils, parish councils, voluntary and community groups, organisations providing services and everyone living and working in each area, with local Shropshire Councillors taking a leading role. It uses statistical data, financial information and people’s real-life stories to find out what goes on in an area, how much time, effort and money is being spent, and what is important to the people who live there.
The council and partners will look at what it is like for customers using services in the area, where there is duplication or services overlap, such as organisations visiting the same street to do different jobs, whether the way services are currently delivered is the best use of time and money, and where improvements could be made.
The approach is being piloted in Church Stretton in the coming months. Following the pilot, and reviewing where further refinements could strengthen the work in Church Stretton, it is hoped to extend this approach to the rest of Shropshire. It is planned to do this in stages to make sure that services are effective and appropriate for each area.
