Enabling parish and town councils to play a stronger role in local place-shaping must start with creating the conditions for constructive dialogue, writes Tony Blake. A new framework to help local authorities develop their relationships with parish and town (local) councils has been published by the...
“Come to us with a plan for strong accountable leadership and we will give you the tools to change your area for the better”. That was prime minister Boris Johnson’s offer to councils outside the current combined authority areas in his levelling up speech last month. In...
We need to de-mystify foresight skills and make them everyday writes Ben Lee. The RSA’s new report A stitch in time? offers a blueprint for improving how we think about the future and foresight. Developing our ‘futures literacy’ means incorporatinig more of what we know and don’t know...
At Shared Intelligence we are convinced the time is ripe for Total Place #2 write Phil Swann and Tony Blake. Local councils and their partners face a combination of challenges that require close collaboration and engagement with local communities and businesses: responding to coronavirus; supporting economic recovery;...
What's the local vision and what structures will get us there writes Phil Swann. The government’s much anticipated devolution and recovery white paper looks set to be delayed. According to some reports ministers’ apparent enthusiasm for the creation of more unitary councils is rapidly waning. All of...
What is the daily cost of local authority social care, and how does that compare to one NHS hospital bed-day? What is the return on investment of each £1 spent on interventions to reduce drug and alcohol dependency? How much is spent on children’s...
Plans for unitary local government need to support wider public service reform – and this needs time writes Tony Blake. The government has reignited the unitary council debate but is local government reorganisation a guilty pleasure? We all know that the discussions distract from business as usual...
From 1st September 2020 Phil Swann who has led the company since 2015 steps down as Executive Chair of Shared Intelligence as the start of a 2-year phased retirement. Lisa McCance who joined the company as a director 5 years ago takes over as Chair...
Council action on devolution must be as much about talking as options appraisal writes Phil Swann. Ministers look set to present councils in two tier areas with a stark choice: establish mayoral combined authorities and introduce unitary local government or in effect opt out of the possibility...
The idea of one ‘new normal’ is a dangerous blind alley writes Ben Lee. It seems increasingly likely the COVID-19 pandemic is already leaving a permanent legacy. Had the crisis lasted only a few days or weeks then perhaps a ‘return to normal’ might have been possible. However,...
Economic recovery planning must start at the local level writes Lisa McCance. COVID-19 is expected to deliver one of the greatest economic shocks of our lifetime, with unprecedented levels of unemployment, business closure and a contraction of our economy not experienced in recorded history. It does however,...
We cannot plan local routes to recovery without clear local visions and strategies writes Phil Swann. In May 2020 councils and their partners are focussed on their response to coronavirus, particularly in relation to the people, communities and businesses most severely affected. We are aware, however, that...
What we are learning right now is priceless, but are we capturing it? writes Ben Lee. Local public services have been operating at (or even beyond) the limits of their tolerance for more than 80 days, revealing strength points and weak points in ways we rarely see....
Employment and skills outcomes agreements are intended to provide a framework to align skills provision to better address the skills needs of local employers and residents. They provide a valuable opportunity for key players in a skills system to develop a joint understanding of these...
In just one year since the first local authority in the UK (Bristol CC) declared a climate emergency, two-thirds of all local authorities have followed suit. But how, in practice, do local authorities move quickly from a declaration of climate emergency, into practical action? In 2019...
By Phil Swann, Exec Chair When I first heard about Betty she was in her mid-80s and lived in rural Dorset. Her husband had died a few years ago. She often got nervous at night, sometimes because of a urinary infection. She got in the habit...
We are seeking to grow our economic development team in response to client demand and are therefore seeking applications for a senior economic consultant. We expect applicants to demonstrate good knowledge of economic development in the UK. Whilst the majority of work would be expected...
Over the last three years Shared Intelligence has established an area of expertise around the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant and action to meet the needs of members of the armed forces community and ensure they do not suffer disadvantage as a result of...
The transfer of public health to counties is having the impact the architects of the change envisaged it would. That is the core conclusion of our latest research, commissioned by the County Councils Network...
Several of our projects have been getting attention from other countries keen to learn from our work. In November we were invited by Kulturtanken the Norwegian youth and children’s cultural agency, to present at their national conference on ‘quality’ in publicly funded youth arts and...
We recently had the privilege of presenting the results of our action-research into library-based rhyme times and maternal mental health, to an international audience of library professionals. Having been invited to present at the Next Library conference in Berlin, we and colleagues from Essex Libraries...
Advent facts day 25 - MERRY CHRISTMAS! No White Christmas this year. We thought we remembered way more snowy Yuletides in the 60s and 70s. But turns out there have been more since 1981 than in the preceding 20 years ...
On 20 July we invited our clients to a Shared Intelligence summer party at which Ben Lee presented 17 trends for 2017. My colleagues challenged me to blog about 17 things I learned at the party. So here goes. In our seventeen years we have gathered...
From 6 September 2016 The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge that, in return for their service, society will “acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect”. It is a...
Last September Ben shared 21 trends with us to provoke some thought in a year that had was proving to be very uncertain. As uncertainty persists we are about to release an update to the 21 trends - giving us a chance to reflect on the...
This weeks blog is brought to you by our Executive Chairman @swannphil This mashup of the titles of four initiatives that Shared Intelligence has been involved in over the last few months gives a flavour of just how important the concept of place has become. These initiatives...
A guest blog by @EthanOhs on starting an online community of practice I remember first coming across the 90:9:1 rule around 2008. At the time the organisation I was working for was building their own online community. As the recession of 2008 took its toll and...
Matthew Kaye, Consultant writes… Si is currently doing a piece of work for Marie Curie evaluating their Information and Support service. Part of this has involved focus groups with those found to be the least likely to access Marie Curie support. One of these demographics is...
In 2014, Shared Intelligence worked with Local Government Association (LGA) to undertake research into the funding landscape of the coalition government. The report was written in light of the LGA’s Rewiring Public Services: Rejuvenating Democracy campaign in which ambitious proposals were presented to give local...
As we travelled the country researching Our Place, from Knowsley on Merseyside, via Bradford, and Leicester, down to Torquay in Devon, a familiar picture emerged. A certain type of community-led organisation was using this Government funded programme as a catalyst for developing innovative, user-focused ways...