Live discussion: is the old model of public service delivery really broken?

Author: the Guardian Local Government Network   |  

Localis Research Fellow, Steven Howell, took part in a Guardian online debate on Wednesday 7th March regarding the delivery and design of public services.

Other participants included:

Iain Roxburgh is a senior associate fellow at the Local Government Centre, Warwick Business School and the current chair of the New Local Government Network.

Mark Bramah is the assistant chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), a local government association which promotes continuous improvement and best practice in the delivery of front-line local government services.

Mary Orton is chief executive of Waverley borough council and has been working in local government since 1990, when she began her career in housing in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

John Tizard is an independent strategic advisor and commentator on public policy and public services. John was previously the founder director of the Centre for Public Service Partnerships and prior to that was a senior executive at Capita and Scope.

Siobhan Coughlan is programme manager on the Productivity Programme at LGA which seeks to help councils deliver ‘Better for less’.

Nigel Bates is strategic development director for Serco’s specialist BPO and ICT business. He has been responsible for driving Serco’s involvement in Hertfordshire’s transformation of customer services programme, part of the council of the future programme.

Colin Whitehouse is an independent local government advisor. Originally from a local authority background Colin spent many years as a senior advisor at DCLG where he created and managed national projects on service transformation, procurement and multi-agency working.

Steven Howell is a research fellow at Localis ? the local government and localist think tank ? and is currently authoring a report on locally-driven approaches to regeneration.

Kate Denham is an executive in the BDO local government team ? a small team of specialists delivering strategic support for local authorities. Kate worked with DCLG on the Total Place initiative in 2009, and maintains a strong interest in the debate on public service delivery in the face of spending reductions.

Lynne Wardle is co-founder and a director of Taylor Haig Foundation, an organisation that facilitates transformation and redesign of public service. Lynne designed and led the Calling Cumbria and Counting Cumbria programmes and was behind the proposals that inspired Lord Michael Bichard’s recommendations for Total Place.

Frances Woodhead is a specialist local government lawyer with over 26 years experience working in local authorities, and most recently in the local government sector at Eversheds.

Claudia Megele is a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. She is also the vice chair of Tower Hamlets Police and Community Safety Board and a Trustee of MIND.

Click here to read the full debate

Click here to read a round up of the debate