Publications

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The Community Paradigm: Why public services need radical change and how it can be achieved

Combining policy analysis and insights from leading edge practice, The Community Paradigm sets out a new vision and policy agenda for the future of public services. It forms the...

4th March, 2021

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Community Power: The Evidence

Community power is happening. It’s creating change across the country, in the places we live and the services we use. Community Power: The Evidence is the first research to...

23rd February, 2021

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Member Exclusive

Working with Central Government

A series of rapid write-ups and detailed briefings from our Innovation Exchanges. This event focused on practical tips on how to build relationships with Whitehall and present persuasive evidence...

22nd February, 2021

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Member Exclusive

Organising for Change

A series of rapid write-ups and detailed briefings from our Innovation Exchanges. This event focused on how to avoid drifting back to old ways of working and make transformation...

15th February, 2021

Shifting the Balance: Local adaptation, innovation and collaboration during the pandemic and beyond

Shaped by conversations with public and third sector leaders across England, Wales and Scotland, Shifting the Balance explores how councils and communities joined together to fight Covid-19. And it...

27th January, 2021

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Member Exclusive

Measuring Impact and Improving Performance in Complex Systems

A series of rapid write-ups and detailed briefings from our Innovation Exchanges. This event focused on measuring impact and improving performance.

30th November, 2020

No Strings Attached: How community-led devolution would transform England’s skills sector

With huge employment and economic challenges on the horizon, Charlotte Morgan argues that local partnershiops of councils, colleges and communities could transform post-16 education in England - if they...

26th November, 2020

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Member Exclusive

Leading Partnerships to Transform Place

9th November, 2020

This Isn’t Working: reimagining employment support for people facing complex disadvantage

Over 2 million people are out of work due to health conditions and disabilities. But each year, only 4% move into employment. This Isn't Working, argues that support for...

27th October, 2020

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Think Big, Act Small: Elinor Ostrom’s radical vision for community power

Exploring the ground-breaking work of economist Elinor Ostrom, the intellectual hero of community power. And asking what it could mean for the UK today.

21st October, 2020

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Member Exclusive

Mobilising communities through deliberative practices

15th October, 2020

Towards Resilience: Redesigning our systems for a better future

The paper identifies five pillars that need to form the centre piece of any approach: economic resilience, public sector resilience, community resilience, environmental resilience and workforce resilience.

12th October, 2020

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Community Mobilisation: Unlocking the Potential of Community Power

This report offers a how-to guide for organisations interested in this process, illustrating a range of potential strategies to build active, networked and powerful communities.

29th July, 2020

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Communities vs. Coronavirus: The Rise of Mutual Aid

This report argues that the Mutual Aid phenomenon is a powerful demonstration what’s possible when communities come together.

13th July, 2020

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Leadership Index Surveys:
Edition 1-10

The Leadership Index was for chief executives, mayors and leaders of local authorities in the UK and was designed to present a unique barometer of the UK’s economic health...

9th July, 2020

How is COVID-19 changing the relationship between communities and public services?

This report summarises findings from an event held with the New Local Government Network (NLGN) on the changing relationship between communities and public services during and beyond COVID-19.

9th June, 2020

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Cultivating Local Inclusive Growth: In Practice

This report looks at how the concept of inclusive growth is being interpreted by practitioners in the field and work backwards towards understanding, rather than attempting a new theoretical...

11th February, 2020

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The Land of Opportunity: England’s Rural Periphery

England’s rural periphery is the UK’s Land of Opportunity. The national economy will only become rebalanced if the policy corridor ceases to exist, which makes a renewed emphasis on...

15th January, 2020

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Cities in Action 2: Rough Sleeping

This report focuses on learning from international examples to prevent and eradicate rough sleeping. It proposes that the UK and devolved governments work with mid-sized cities and places to...

25th November, 2019

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From Tiny Acorns: Communities Shaping the Future of Children’s Services

This report makes a case for a future of children’s services that is led by children and families. It argues that to ensure the future sustainability of children’s services,...

9th September, 2019

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Community Commissioning: Shaping Public Services through People Power

This report makes a convincing case for why the process needs to be led by citizens and service users not public sector professionals. Importantly, it also explains in detail...

8th July, 2019

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Cities in Action 1: Workplace Automation

This report highlights ideas and best practice successfully implemented by countries, regions and cities around the world in response to similar challenges faced by places in the UK.

3rd July, 2019

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Rebalancing the power: Five principles for a successful relationship between councils and communities

With financial resources likely to be under pressure for the foreseeable future, councils will increasingly need to become a supporter and enabler of communities ready to solve their own...

20th September, 2018

Creating Healthy Places

Factors as varied as employment, transport, housing, and green space all affect people’s health. And over the last four years, councils have undertaken a variety of innovative work with...

5th June, 2018

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Key Cities: Ready to Meet the UK’s Biggest Challenges

NLGN has been commissioned by the Key Cities Group to undertake research into how mid-sized cities can contribute to resolving the big national challenges that the UK currently faces....

5th June, 2018

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Culture Shock: Creating a Changemaking Culture in Local Government

Increasingly councils are recognising that it is organisational culture not structure that drives impact. But what is the culture of local government? Why is changing it important? And how...

18th April, 2018

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Place-based policymaking after Brexit: In search of the missing link?

This report explores the dividing lines that drove 2016’s decision to Leave. This report reveals the Brexit vote was a visible expression of the diverse economic trajectories, experiences and...

23rd January, 2018

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Reaching Out: Influencing the Wider Determinants of Health

Government must acknowledge health as an economic asset that boosts workforce productivity Over 85% of senior public health officers surveyed1 found that economic development departments are not as engaged...

28th November, 2017

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Social Value in Procurement

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires commissioners in public authorities to have regard to economic, social and environmental well-being when buying public services. Public bodies are now...

8th May, 2017

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Producing the Goods: Collaboration as the Next Frontier of Productivity

Kindly supported by: Councils should focus their energies on understanding how the motivations of the public can be harnessed to help councils to be more productive, and then use...

29th March, 2017

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Building Homes, Growing Communities

To help councils build the hundreds of thousands of new homes that are needed, NLGN has published a practical guide, Building Homes, Growing Communities, to help ensure that the...

23rd March, 2017

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Could a robot run a council?

At a time when councils are facing unprecedented financial pressures, the development of new robotics technology has the potential to help, according to participants in a roundtable debate convened...

28th February, 2017

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Outside the Box: The Council Workforce of Tomorrow

Local government needs to engage its current and future workforce to make sure they are ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow’s council. This report uses original research...

8th December, 2016

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Unlocking the Power of Local: Reflections on the new Place Leaders

As our economy becomes increasingly globalised, our public policy response needs to become more localised. To ensure places are not buffeted by outside forces and are able to create...

15th November, 2016

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A common interest: The role of asset transfer in developing the community business market

DOWNLOAD NLGN RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTIONS NLGN were commissioned by Power to Change in March 2016, to provide the most comprehensive possible mapping of asset transfers from local authorities to...

2nd November, 2016

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Work it out: Creating Local Systems of Employability Support

Kindly supported by: Local government should have more powers to help tackle persistent unemployment: 98% of councils think that employment and skills provision should be locally commissioned. 80% of...

20th October, 2016

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The Four Forces That Make Cities Successful

Many cities offer people tangible opportunities for discovering economic security for themselves and their families. And some of the world’s largest cities offer the greatest opportunities if they are to...

14th September, 2016

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Devolution Revolution: The next steps to deliver outcomes

Central Government need to be much clearer about what they want from devolution and much more willing to create the conditions to achieve it. This is the key finding...

13th July, 2016

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Smarter, Not Harder: How devolution can make places more productive

Cities across the UK must be given control over a third of corporation tax to help them fix the country’s underperformance on productivity, a new report by think tank...

6th July, 2016

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Leaders who collaborate, collaborators who lead

In spring of 2016, NLGN and Veredus held two discussion events on the theme of collaborative leadership. The participants were council chief executives: the first event representing some northern...

10th May, 2016

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All Together Now: WHOLE SYSTEMS COMMISSIONING FOR COUNCILS AND THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR

This report takes a “whole systems” approach to ensure services are working in an integrated way wrapped around people. Getting this right will require greater collaboration between commissioners and...

28th April, 2016

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Funding Arts and Culture in a Time of Austerity

In partnership with: “Find a way to keep faith with arts and culture” Arts Council Chair urges local authorities as arts and culture funding falls Sir Peter Bazalgette urged...

13th April, 2016

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Get Well Soon: Reimagining Place-Based Health

This final report moves the debate into practical territory by focussing on actions rather than structures, and the wider resources of places rather than the organisational boundaries of institutions.

17th March, 2016

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Picking up Signs, Not Pieces

Supported by: In collaboration with Action for Children, NLGN hosted three roundtable discussions on the role of local government in supporting parents. The first two discussions were held with...

10th December, 2015

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Children’s Services: Roundtable write-up

NLGN hosted a roundtable in partnership with Prospects in March 2015 to discuss changing delivery models for children’s and youth services. This paper outlines the key themes from this...

14th July, 2015

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Demystifying Data: The Data Revolution and What it Means for Local Government

data is not just a financial asset, but equally that it is the key that unlocks council’s ability to fully integrate and transform the services they offer local people...

23rd April, 2015

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A Design for Life: How Councils and Housing Associations can Collaborate for Impact

Local authorities, housing associations and the health sector are natural partners. There is significant overlap between the people they work with and the challenges they face. This report examines...

24th March, 2015

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CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH

In November 2014, NLGN hosted a roundtable discussion in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and MindEd to consider how local government can prioritise...

22nd January, 2015

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Smart Budgeting: Integrating Financial and Strategic Planning for Outcomes

Councils should adopt “smarter” approaches to budgeting which make sure the strategic value of every pound goes towards meeting outcomes. They should no longer simply follow the patterns of...

1st December, 2014

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As Tiers Go By: A collaborative future for counties and districts

This research shows that the spectre of unitary status is still holding back the potential for local collaboration, as local partners focus on the potential for nationally imposed reorganisation...

29th October, 2014

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