Birmingham without boundaries
New plans to beat forthcoming public sector budget cuts and protect vital services are being hatched in Birmingham this week.
More than £7.5 billion is spent each year on all public services in Birmingham, and reductions in these budgets are seen as inevitable in the near future.
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Be Birmingham has taken the UK lead to better understand how improved public sector collaboration and effective spending can improve the lives of Birmingham’s citizens whilst delivering long term financial savings.
For further information click here
For full version of Birmingham's public sector investment study click here
For summary version of Birmingham's public sector investment study click here
| Be Birmingham Total Place summit Be Birmingham's fifth summit will be taking place on Wednesday 3 February 2010 at New Bingley Hall, Birmingham where the main focus will be to generate new ways of thinking and collaboration. |
| Total Place lunch time seminar Almost 150 public sector and partner research and policy development senior managers attended a seminar delivered by Jackie Mould, director, Be Birmingham and Stephen Taylor, Birmingham's Total Place programme director on Monday 23 November 2009, to explore how collaborative and effective spending can improve the lives of Birmingham citizens. |
| Total Place networking event Senior leaders met in Croydon on Friday 6 November 2009 to create more connections between pilot authorities and Whitehall departments. The purpose of the event is to increase the movement of information on what is going on, develop new ways of thinking on what could be done differently and build specific skills. |
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Be Birmingham Total Place roundtable event
Be Birmingham co-supported a Guardian Total Place discussion where project leaders came together to report on their pilots progress held in London on Monday 12 October 2009. Click here for more information. |
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Total Place Project Leaders’ event
Birmingham’s Total Place project leaders met at The REP on Thursday 17 September 2009 to report on the progress of their pilot projects whilst taking part in a planning session to develop their project plans. |
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Birmingham leads the way
Be Birmingham hosted an inaugural Total Place event for the 13 pilot areas on Thursday 16 July 2009 which was an ideal opportunity for Birmingham to share its learning and experiences to date. Click here for more information. |
Total Place: Better for Less
Total Place is a new initiative that looks at how a “whole area” approach to public services can lead to better services at less cost. It seeks to identify and avoid overlap and duplication between organisations and to focus funding on places, not institutions, in order to deliver a step change in both service improvement and efficiency at a local level.
Birmingham is one of thirteen pilot areas across the country taking part in the Total Place scheme.
The Birmingham pilot
The objectives of the Birmingham pilot are to:
- Measure the extent to which public sector budgets contribute to the Be Birmingham partnership priority outcomes
- Design and deliver new approaches to service delivery
- Develop new collaborative ways of working across and between organisations
The pilot consists of seven projects with a Be Birmingham executive board champion:
Services for drug and alcohol misusers – improving the long-term recovery of drug users and alternative provision for the assessment and treatment of people with severe alcohol problems who frequently present to Accident & Emergency departments.
Be Birmingham executive board champion: Jason Lowther, Director of Policy and Delivery, Birmingham City Council
Preventative approaches to tackling gangs – evidence-based activity drawn from Canada and the USA to look at the impact of early intervention on groups at high risk of becoming involved in gang violence.
Be Birmingham executive board champion: Lynne Wilson, Be Birmingham Community Champion
Improving outcomes for children and young people – “Incredible Years”, a positive parenting programme for parents of 3-4 year old children with behavioural problems.
A Total Community “demonstrator” project – targeted activity to create 3,000 new homes for 10,000 people, a country park and green transport.
Be Birmingham executive board champion: Sophia Christie, Chief Executive, NHS Birmingham East and North
Collaborative leadership – a package of leadership training aimed at middle managers from across the Be Birmingham partnership.
Be Birmingham executive board champion: Brian Carr, Chief Executive, BVSC
Services for people with learning disabilities – details to follow
Be Birmingham executive board champions: Moira Dumma, Chief Executive,
Services for people with mental health needs – details to follow
The intent is to use these projects to demonstrate the way we want Birmingham partner organisations to work together in the future. The essence of this is to think in terms of a single “budget for Birmingham” committed to outcomes for the city and built around citizens’ needs, irrespective of organisational and professional boundaries.
For information on what is happening in the 13 other pilot areas go to the Total Place website: http://www.localleadership.gov.uk/totalplace/totalplaces/
