A return to cross-sector collaboration

Even before LocalGov Digital was launched in 2012 I exchanged ideas and best practice with people across public sector organisations other than my own.

In the following years I was part of the many that delivered things like the LocalGov Digital Content Standard, the Local Digital Declaration, the Service Standard, and more.

During the height of COVID discussion between councils didn't stop and the LocalGov Digital Slack was busier than ever, but for my team and I during that time understandably our focus was largely about delivering responses to the pandemic locally, as quickly as possible.

Fast-forward to 2023 I was really pleased when DLUHC approved our application to the Planning Software Improvement Fund, and this week I attended the welcome event hosted by them with people from 18 other councils.

In my post about LocalGovCamp last year I mentioned an emerging model for collaboration and delivery, and DLUHC's Planning Software Improvement Fund seems to follow that model.

Discussion has already started between us and the other councils delivering the same outcomes, and the desire to work together has been overwhelmingly positive.

Whilst public sector collaboration never really went away, over the past couple of years I feel I took a step back, so it's great to be part of a cross-sector group tasked with delivering better public services for people across the country again.

The image used in this post was taken from Isbg Six Flickr under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic licence.

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