IS Chief Executive Dr Sarah Gadsden delivered a speech on the Solace/IS Transformation Programme at the Solace Scotland Conference last week.
The conference brings together local government, public sector professionals and Scotland’s businesses to share ideas and develop solutions to drive positive change. Here’s what she said:
“As many of you will know, the Solace/IS Transformation Programme, launched in September 2023, aims to shape a future operating model for Scottish local government through six transformation anchors and three core workstreams.
“Governed by a Chief Executive Working Group and supported by the IS Programme Management Office, the Blueprint focuses on enhancing connectivity within local government and with partners.
“It operates on a ‘plug and play’ model, allowing local authorities to engage with the workstreams as needed. The programme is also designed to be iterative and dynamic, able to respond to the current and future operating environments and evolving with new projects as existing ones reach delivery.“In November 2024, Solace agreed to a collective £700K funding contribution from councils to support the Programme, with Project Directors able to submit funding bids for consideration by the Chief Executive Working Group.
“From the outset, we recognised that the programme’s success would depend not only on the resources available but also on how well we, as a sector, work together.
“To guide our collective transformation efforts, we agreed on five guiding principles. These are family first, parity of esteem, mutual aid, collective leadership and an all 32 solution, where relevant and applicable.
“Workstream one, sponsored by Greg Colgan, Chief Executive of Dundee City Council, is focused on a whole systems approach to reform at a place level. Grounded in the Fairer Scotland Duty, we are working with Greg and the Chief Executives of City of Edinburgh, Fife and Glasgow City Councils as well as professional associations, to develop high-level messages as to what a reformed system could look like and identify the levers local government has to influence the reform required, along with the asks of Scottish Government and partners.
“A key element of this work is also considering how we encourage less dependence on the state and empower people and families to have greater agency for their own wellbeing.
“We aim to complete this work by the end of the year, guided by our upcoming report on ‘Tackling Cause Not Symptoms’. This report highlights the scale of the challenges we face regarding inequalities in the social determinants of health and aims to support and challenge thinking on reform.
“We have engaged on workstream one with partners through the national Community Planning Improvement Board, which is chaired by Greg Colgan on behalf of Solace Scotland.
“Likewise, partners have also been sharing information about their sectoral reform programmes, and we’ve heard about Police Scotland’s local policing programme and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s work on shaping our future service.
“However, it remains unclear how each of our sector-led reform programmes are integrating into a unified roadmap for public service reform in Scotland.
“Furthermore, reform is often talked about through the lens of a policy area, for example, health and social care reform or education reform, rather than through the prism of an overarching public service reform framework or roadmap. This can result in decisions in one area having unintended consequences for another.
“In the early days of workstream one, we invited the accountable officers of statutory community planning partners to participate in a round-table discussion on reform.
“This forum allowed officers to discuss their reform ambitions and the opportunities and solutions available to them, considering the political and financial realities they face.
“Building on this, it might be beneficial to reconvene the accountable officers to explore the interdependencies between their respective reform programmes, and to identify tangible actions for collaboration aligned to shared statutory duties.
“Workstream two is comprised of six transformation projects, with sponsorship provided by the Chief Executives of Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire and Shetland Islands Councils.
“The Statutory Duties and Powers project is conceptualised as the spine of the overall programme, and we are working with professional associations to identify pain points and opportunities for service redesign and innovation within the current legislative framework, resulting in the development of change propositions.
“We also have well established transformation projects focused on the full realisation of Crerar, collaborative procurement, the development of a digital to be state and finally digital shared services.
“We are just about to launch a new transformation project on shared services, which will consider opportunities to scale existing shared arrangements.
“Our third workstream is our Leadership Practitioner Forum, which is chaired by Pippa Milne, the Chief Executive of Argyll and Bute Council and the Solace portfolio lead for leadership. This forum engages aspiring Chief Executives, Directors and Heads of Service in the sector’s transformation efforts and provides a space for discussion, challenge, support and exploration with peers.
“We recognise that this is just for local government colleagues and other sectors will undoubtedly have similar forums.
“We think there could be a good opportunity for the Scottish Leaders Forum to build on its work to date and align with public service reform, focusing on the leadership of change and the development of the next generation of public service leaders.
“I thought I’d finish my sharing some final reflections based on my experience thus far, of what it takes to drive transformational reform.
“Firstly, strong collective leadership from leaders who are committed to the success of the sector, in addition to their own local authorities, even if it means making some concessions.
“Secondly, the volunteer capacity within local government to get involved in project teams has been crucial, with individuals going above and beyond their day jobs to ensure the programme is genuinely sector-led and informed by those on the ground.
“Thirdly, a dedicated PMO has been indispensable, working with Project Directors to manage the interdependencies.
“Fourthly, our link into the COSLA Innovating, Developing and Transforming Special Interest Group is vital for securing political support. Officers from COSLA, Solace, IS and Scottish Government are also meeting bi-monthly to discuss the touchpoints between our respective transformation and reform work.
“Fifthly, the £700K funding from local authorities has been critical to transitioning the workstream two projects from discovery into delivery, allowing us to progress at a faster pace.
“Finally, it takes courage, determination and an unwavering belief in our agency as leaders to drive the changes necessary for the future sustainability of public services.
“Our work with Solace is fundamentally about local government actively shaping its own future, with a readiness to bring our public service partners along on this journey.”
For more information on the IS/SOLACE Transformation Programme visit here https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/about-us/support-for-councils/solaceis-transformation-programme