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Government departments urged to practise what they preach on ‘joined-up’ action

17 July 2003

Many national and local initiatives to regenerate disadvantaged communities and tackle wider social exclusion are still a long way from the goal of genuine partnerships and multi-agency working. And central government should set a better example by making its own departments and agencies more ‘joined-up’, according to research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The study, by Prof. Alan McGregor and colleagues at the University of Glasgow highlights a series of barriers at national and local level that stand in the way of more integrated working between area regeneration programmes and wider initiatives, such as ‘welfare to work’ schemes that target individuals.

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in England, Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) in Scotland and Community Strategy Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales have been introduced to bring greater coherence to efforts to promote social inclusion. But the report, based on nine case study areas in the UK, identifies a series of other, practical steps that could be taken to promote joint working.

National action

The report suggests that:

  • Government could become more ‘joined-up’ at the centre. In particular, departments could rationalise their differing performance monitoring and auditing requirements that place unnecessary burdens on local partnerships.
  • National initiatives could allow greater discretion to those responsible for delivering front-line services to adapt to local circumstances and priorities. Increased local flexibility announced in this year’s Budget for the Jobcentre Plus programme is a move in this direction.
  • Departments and initiatives could set joint targets for promoting social inclusion and make organisations jointly responsible for meeting them.
  • Skills needed for joint working could be given priority in training and development programmes for staff and made a key component in performance appraisal systems.
  • A requirement for all new, area-based initiatives to provide integrated services could be applied to the full set of government social inclusion interventions, including employment programmes.

Prof. McGregor said: “National government has a key role to play in developing more effective joint working by requiring its own departments to work together more closely in a transparent way. But the greatest contribution it could probably make would be to stop the introduction of new initiatives and its constant tinkering with the rules for existing programmes, so that local organisations and local staff working for national agencies have the time to build stable working relationships with each other.”

Local action

The report suggests that:

  • A regular exchange of up-to-date information between local organisations involved in area regeneration and those tackling wider social exclusion would improve communication and help prevent duplication and mistrust. LSPs and CPPs have tended to circulate occasional ‘snapshots’ of activities rather than routinely updated information on what is happening locally.
  • Overlapping board membership for different initiatives would help to spread knowledge about other organisations and promote joint working.
  • Joint local strategy meetings could be held between area regeneration organisations and other social inclusion agencies to identify common goals and complementary services, and to avoid duplication.
  • Greater operational integration could be achieved through staff secondments between organisations, shared premises and joint training arrangements.
  • Collecting case histories demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrated working would help to convince sceptical staff of its value.

    • Prof. McGregor said: “Successful joint working is difficult enough given the complexity of social exclusion in many areas, variations in targets and timescales and the different organisational cultures that exist. Most partnerships also place significant demands on staff time in their member organisations.

    “That makes it all the more vital that local energies are not diluted or dispersed by excessive demands imposed by government from above or by needless misunderstandings or duplication of effort at the local level.”

    He added: “Our fieldwork in nine different areas of the UK uncovered many positive examples of operational integration between agencies that were prepared to share information, premises, staff and even their clients. But the barriers to joined-up working remain formidable and there is much that still needs to be done to overcome them.”