”Whole-place” Community Budgets are the next step in generating growth for UK plc

Today, Government announced “Whole-place Community Budgets”. For Greater Manchester, this is a significant opportunity to generate economic growth in tandem with reducing poverty and depravation. This is about improving the lives of residents in Greater Manchester by spending public money better.

This “second phase” of Community Budgets will see Government choose two places to test a new approach for funding local public services. It will reduce duplication and force greater value for money from public resources.

Greater Manchester is already innovating with regards to the way it brings intense collaboration across its public services, including with Social Impact Bonds, payment by results mechanisms and the systematic use of cost benefit analysis. It wants to work with the Government to redesign services and reconfigure funding streams, to be much more effective in their delivery.

Greater Manchester has already established a strong governance structure around the Combined Authority, alongside strong private sector leadership provided by the Local Enterprise Partnership. It has the strongest and most consistent platform in the country to work with the Government on the next phase of community budgets.

Richard Leese, deputy chair of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, says, “We know that today being much smarter and more efficient than ever is not a choice. We also know that to achieve step change we need to reach out across structures, like health, probation, police and housing.

“We’re already doing this at Greater Manchester level, so this initiative is pushing at an open door of goodwill and established partnerships. We need to spend public sector resource much better, so our economy emerges quicker and stronger, and we continue to be an excellent place to live and work”.

Mike Blackburn, chair of Greater Manchester’s Local Enterprise Partnership, adds, “Greater Manchester delivers, and is in the strongest position to make the most of this opportunity. If the Government wants results, at scale, it knows where to come, as we have an unrivalled track record of using evidence and assessment to determine action. This now has a statutory basis with the Combined Authority, backed by the LEP, something nowhere else in the country outside London can offer.

“So if the Government is serious, this is the place for it to do business. Community Budgeting is something we’ve been working towards for a long time. We get it, and we want it.”