CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB 036/09) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 18
May 2009
The Minister for
the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, announced a new Innovators Council
made up of creative thinkers from public services, charities and
businesses to help drive public service reform. The Council will
fast-track ideas generated by frontline staff and citizens to
deliver better and more efficient services.
The Council is part of a wide-reaching series of reforms led by
the Cabinet Office, including judging departments on how well they
innovate and overhauling training for policy makers.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne said:
"Public services have been transformed over the last 10
years - crime is down 40%, waiting lists are at an all-time low
and school results are at an all-time high. But change in the
years to come has to be driven by frontline staff - not ordered
from the top. My view is very simple: frontline staff doing the
job day in and day out will often see clearest what needs to
change. I want those ideas put to the top tables in Whitehall
without delay.
"If we want Whitehall to focus on innovation, we have to
change the signals we give at the top - and the support we give
policymakers at the bottom. And crucially we have to showcase the
kind of innovation we want to see, in a way that keeps the
'flash-to-bang' as fast as possible.
"That's why I'm asking this panel of experts to
join me in seeking out, developing and implementing the next
generation of innovative ideas, ideas that will allow us to
continue the reform of public services and deliver a smaller,
stronger centre of Government that encourages innovation and
allows it to flourish."
Published in March, 'Working Together - Public services on
your side' said that radical reform in public services will
play a vital role in enabling the country to come out of the
recession stronger and fairer. The report put innovation at the
heart of this reform.
Two pilot schemes currently being run by the Government show how
simple innovative ideas can make a real difference to
peoples' lives.
The Tell Us Once initiative will mean people only have to contact
the Government once when their circumstances change - the idea
developed from a project that helped people cope with bereavement,
where frontline workers discovered how distressing it was to have
to contact dozens of agencies when a loved-one died. This saves
time, money and effort for all involved.
Online Free School Meals is joining up central government with
local authorities to cut the time it takes to process an
application from six weeks to just a few hours, making sure people
get the help they need quicker and cutting administration costs too.
The Innovators Council, which draws members from the private,
public and third sector and will meet for the first time in June,
will be tasked with finding similar ideas.
Council member Lord Adebowale said:
"Britain has a great history of innovation in everything
from engineering to music and I know that there's no shortage
of innovative ideas in public services either.
"Until now they've lacked a mechanism to make their
ideas heard, which is why this council is so important. I want it
to be a champion for new thinking, helping the kind of people who
look at an original idea and ask themselves how it can be made to
work rather than worrying about why it won't.
"So if you know of a way to make public services even
better, visit the website and get in touch."
The public are being asked to submit their ideas by e-mail, post
or online at http://www.publicexperience.com,
part of the Ministry of Justice Building Democracy initiative,
where they will be able to comment on other ideas. The council
will meet regularly to consider proposals, with the brains behind
the best ideas being invited to pitch their plans in person.
If the council approves an idea it will recruit relevant experts
to look at ways of developing and improving it, then monitor the
situation to see that the plan maintains momentum and make sure it
gets implemented on the frontline.
Notes to editors
1. Members of the council confirmed so far are (in alphabetical order):
* Lord Victor Adebowale, Turning Point and the Sunningdale
Institute
* Philip Bartlett, programme director at JobCentre
Plus
* Alexis Cleveland, Director General of Corporate
Services in the Cabinet Office who led the creation of the highly
innovative DWP Solutions Centre
* Matthew Coats, head of
immigration at the UK Borders Agency
* David Harker, CEO of
Citizens Advice
* Charlotte Hogg, Managing Director of
Experian UK & Ireland
* Peter Housden, permanent secretary
of Communities & Local Government and former member of the
Delivery Council.
* Cathy Garner, CEO of Manchester Knowledge
Capital
* Dr Lynne Maher, Head of Innovation Practice at the
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
* Dai Powell,
Chief Executive of the HCT Group
* Sally Russell, co-founder
of the hugely successful and highly acclaimed website
Netmums
* Philip Rycroft, Director General of the Business and
Innovation group at DIUS
* Toby Salt, Deputy Chief Executive
and Strategic Director at the National College for School
Leadership
* Rob Whiteman, CEO of Barking & Dagenham Council
2. The council will meet for the first time on 24 June. At the
end of the day it will vote on the three best ideas presented, and
these will be put into development and testing the next day. If
detailed testing shows that the idea is workable. This process
should take no more than 10 weeks at the end of which, assuming
testing proves the idea to be workable, a frontline pilot scheme
will be rolled out.
3. The council's remit covers public service delivery by the
UK Government. It does not include the aspects of public service
delivery that are devolved in Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales, although we work closely with the Devolved Administrations
to continue our common aim of further strengthening public
services while recognising the particular and responsibilities
across different parts of the United Kingdom.
Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk