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Joining heads on design in public services In a recent online panel discussion, Dr Andrew Larner, Chief Executive of iESE, John Comber, iESE’s lead researcher for Digital & Technology, and service design expert Molly Balcom Raleigh discussed design principles and how they can benefit the reinvention of public services.
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ohn Comber (JC): We are here to talk about the redesign of local authorities using design principles and design principle methodologies and what some of the critical success factors are to using those methodologies. We are going to look at what design principles are, how they are and can be used in a local authority setting and what advantages they can bring to the transformation and the reinvention of public services. We are living through challenging time for the planet and local challenges around the economy, jobs, housing and the supporting the vulnerable in our communities along with issues impacting on transport, infrastructure and mobility, struggling even to get the goods we need into the shops and on the shelves.
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Dr Andrew Larner, Chief Executive of iESE.
Andrew Larner (AL): There are increasingly ranges of very interesting solutions out there, the danger is getting trapped by the problem and trying to find a solution that fits it. The amount of funding that has been taken out of local public service in the UK is phenomenal. We haven’t started to pay the pandemic bill yet and issues like people living longer with complex care needs, those issues are still maturing as problems. We knew there would come a point where efficiency gains would not work, there is just not enough money in the system. If you just projected forward the cost of social care and the cost of waste management, there came a point in time when they absorbed the whole budget of local government and there was no money for anything
an online interactive publication
John Comber, iESE’s lead researcher for Digital & Technology.
Molly Balcom Raleigh, service design expert.
else left. We have passed the point where that would have been true if we had carried on delivering things the way that we have, so we need to continue to transform to increase impact but also to find new ways of doing things that deliver outcomes that don’t require the levels of funding we have currently got, doing this at a time when there is no financial headroom to make a mistake. We very easily get trapped into asking people about their experience of the current service and what they want and of course they can only imagine their current experience of the current service without the holes in it, a bit shinier and a lot faster. What you don’t think about is what is causing them to need the service in the first place and addressing that issue. By thinking about that you are no longer
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