9 December 2024 Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden’s key speech on reform of the state called for fewer checkers and more doers, fewer and better rules, more experimentation
16 January 2025 Nick Kimber, Director of Public Sector Reform at the Cabinet Office, launched a £100 million ‘Test, Learn, Grow’ programme, aiming to bring secondees with public service delivery experience alongside civil servants with the freedom to trial new methods. More than 200 people, including Total Place Network (TPN) members, took part.
In its 16 January 2025 issue MJ carried an article by a TPN member, ‘In Need of a Place Lift’, making the case for Total Place and other relationship-based means of renewing public services.
On 20 January 2025 the Cardiff Public Service Board launched a project with TPN support aimed at applying Total Place principles to take partnership working in the city - already strong - to the next level.
On 27 January 2025 the Institute for Government hosted a round table discussion with Georgia Gould, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, on place-based public service funding which will consider how ‘Total Place 2.0’ would work. Five TPN members took part. The outcome is expected soon.
On 2 February 2025 the head of the National Audit Office said that the way public services are delivered is becoming unsustainable and called for a cultural shift to more risk and innovation.
On 6 February 2025 the Governor of the Bank of England said “….education, health and public administration.…have seen significant declines in their measured productivity per hour.”
On 7 February 2025 Times commentator Emma Duncan wrote “The fundamental problem of government is that, unrestrained, it tends to grow. The discipline which competition forces on the private sector does not apply to the state.”
The LGA meeting to consider next steps on Total Place and its interplay with the Test/Learn/Grow programme will now be held on 14 March 2025 and a number of TPN members have been invited
21 Feb 2025: a group of Network members has put together a simple questionnaire to help any local public body take stock of where it stands on partnership working in general and Total Place in particular. It will go shortly to all relevant organisations within the Network.
28 Feb 2025: chaired by Manchester Met U, fifteen participants from central and local government and think tanks met to explore the gains to be made from shifting to relational rather than transactional public services, how a Total Place approach would accelerate that, and the ‘ask’ of government to make it happen.
14 March 2025: Thanks to the LGA for a meeeting of thirty key players, many of them TPN members, to explore the connection between Test/Learn/Grow and Total Place. Key message: they are mutually reinforcing. Next steps a shared statement on the core Total Place proposition and a plan to get the ball rolling faster.
15 May 2025: John Denham makes the case in an MJ interview with Mike Burton ‘why the Total Place bandwagon should roll again’
16 May 2025: Barry Quirk describes in LGC ‘the continuing allure of Total Place’
12 June 2025: In MJ Dan Corry encourages ‘a second wind for Total Place’ and Huw Thomas (Cardiff Leader) with Stephen Taylor describes the role of Total Place in shifting from cure to prevention in the city.
3 July 2025: Angela Rayner said in her speech to the LGA Conference: With more flexible funding, we’re giving you the opportunity to work more collaboratively including through new pilots so councils and mayors can pool budgets and do joined-up services, learning the lessons of projects like Total Place – the last Labour government’s pioneering reform programme.
16 July 2025: Georgia Gould announces ‘innovation squads’ sent in to ten English localities to back community ideas and work with the frontline as part of the £100 million ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ reform programme.
12 Sept 2025: Steve Reed’s letter to council leaders and CEOs includes I am really excited about the work we are doing in this space (public service reform), including our partnerships with places on the Test, Learn and Grow programme and exploring more flexible funding options. We are currently developing new pilots so councils and mayors can pool budgets and do joined-up services, learning the lessons of programmes like Total Place – the last Labour government’s pioneering reform programme.
26 Nov 2025: In the Budget, Rachel Reeves announces that there are to be five Place Based Budgeting pilots
31 Dec 2025: Cardiff, West Berkshire and Swansea have developed and completed Total Place intiatives this year and are planning their next phase
18 Dec 2025: MJ publishes ‘Five Lessons To Usher in Total Place’ (Stephen Taylor)
20 Dec 2025: Sites for the five pilots are made known: Greater Manchester (prevention demonstrator), West Midlands, Liverpool, East Midlands, West Yorkshire
20 Jan 2026: The LGA hosts a Place Based Budgeting Workshop with 64 participants, chaired by Michael Bichard (outputs to follow)