As an organisation that encourages innovation and sharing of ideas, the Improvement Service set up two small funds in 2006 - the Innovation Exchange and the Smart Fund - to support projects that it believed could have a useful impact on delivery of public services.

On 25 April 2008, a showcase event was held at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to allow some of the projects which have received funding to share their learning, outputs and experiences with colleagues across Scottish local government. A number of these projects also provided further information and demonstrations at their exhibition stands during and after lunch.

All presentations from the event are summarised below and are available to download. Further information on each project and requests for personal appearances or offers of exhibition space should be made via the Improvement Service. A copy of the agenda is also available.

Integrated Care Planning - West Dunbartonshire Addiction Services

Mandy Evans-Ewing, Helen Weir, Hailey Edgar, Debbie Houston and Diane Thompson from the Future of Addictions Services Team (FAST) presented on progress on the West Dunbartonshire Integrated Care Planning Project, which aims to provide seamless care services to support addictions treatment through joint planning mechanisms and service user involvement.

 Download the West Dunbartonshire presentation

Person Centred Outcomes (learning disability support services) - Midlothian and East Lothian Councils

Ruth Lowe of Midlothian Council presented current position and plans for the integrated person-centred service planning and implementation system which is being developed in partnership with the Improvement Service, The Thistle Foundation and Capability Scotland. This consists of three key elements: Person Centred planning, Shaping the Future (a service-planning tool) and In Control (a self-directed support system).

 Download the East Lothian & Midlothian Councils presentation

Service users involvement in Peer Reviews - Scottish Housing Best Value Network

Fiona Jackson of the Scottish Housing Best Value Network outlines its project to further develop a peer review system.

 Download the Scottish Housing Best Value Network presentation

Community Planning Partnerships/IT system investigation - Angus Council

Siobhan Fagan outlined Angus Community Planning Partnership's feasibility study into developing the existing Community Planning IT system from a prototype to a fully developed, integrated application for use by all 10 partner organisations.

 Download the Angus CPP presentation

OASIS (Online Anti-Social Information Sharing) - Forth Valley GIS

Gary Semple from Forth Valley GIS gave an update on the web-based GIS and management system that they have been developing, including a walkthrough of the soon-to-be-released pilot system, and Douglas Ralph from Clackmannanshire Council provided concrete examples of how this system has assisted with management and reporting of such community issues as ASBOs and fly-tipping.

 Download the OASIS presentation

Local Footprints - Sustainable Scotland Network

Local Footprints works with local authorities and schools, assisting them in measuring and managing their Ecological Footprint. Amie Fulton from the Sustainable Scotland Network outlined the project and its progress so far.

 Download the Local Footprints presentation

Elected Member Caseload Management - West Lothian Council

In partnership with ESP Consultancy, West Lothian Council is developing a caseload management system to assist councillors in managing their workload. Christine Calder and Faye Rudland from West Lothian Council gave a walkthrough of the web-based caseload management system and Alison Flynn from ESP Consultancy demonstrated the online training requirements package.

 Download the West Lothian Council presentation

 Download the ESP Consultancy presentation

Approved Trader Scheme - North Lanarkshire Council

Carol Fraser outlined and demonstrated a number of potential models that North Lanarkshire Council are investigating prior to adopting one which is fit for purpose.

 Download the North Lanarkshire Council presentation

Support for Benchmarking Activity - ABC Benchmarking

Carol George outlined the project which saw joint commissioning of a comprehensive guidance & training package to support benchmarking activity, through support of the ABC Benchmarking Club. This toolkit will shortly be available to public sector organisations through the Improvement Service.

ABC Benchmarking presentation coming soon...