25.10.17
Take a moment to celebrate
Devolution, restructuring and widespread service reform: from a journalist’s perspective, it’s never been a more exciting time to report on the public sector. That’s why I could not be more thrilled to be taking over the reins at PSE at this key juncture.
There could not be a feature that more perfectly encapsulates this feeling of imminent change than the article James Palmer, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, has penned for us on p28. In it, he highlights the region’s opportunity to do things differently in order to achieve its true economic potential. While this is certainly true for Cambridgeshire, it goes without saying that this is a sentiment that runs through the entire public sector landscape as well.
As PSE’s new editor, I intend to echo that sentiment far and wide across each and every edition we publish, celebrating the successes that organisations have already achieved whilst describing the rather exciting challenges that still lie ahead.
A perfect example of this is what councils have been doing to tackle energy efficiency. Liverpool has set up its own energy company to tackle fuel poverty (p38); Nottingham has adopted the Energiesprong approach to improve the efficiency of older homes (p68); and Ceredigion has maximised the delivery of energy funding for homes (p44). For the local authorities that haven’t yet made great strides in their green journeys, APSE offers some invaluable insight on p32.
The same successes have been observed across government’s digital environment. On p59, Catherine Bright from Smarter Digital Services talks us through a partnership of 12 councils that is funding an independent consultancy to help them achieve their tech ambitions. In the same vein, Norfolk County Council reveals why it has created its own Digital Innovation and Efficiency Committee on p55.
While some parts of the public sector still rely heavily on extra funding in order to unlock similar achievements – health and social care comes to mind, as ADASS president Margaret Willcox explains on p62 – there is plenty of best practice to take away from this edition of PSE. And even in the health and care sphere, there is a lot that can be accomplished by working in partnership while we eagerly await the chancellor’s Budget in November – at least according to David Pearson on p60.
I hope you enjoy this vibrant edition of the magazine, and I’ll see you all on the other side – post-Budget, that is – later this year.
Luana Salles
Editor