Total Place

Who’s involved in Total Place?

Total Place is overseen by a Ministerial group and a high-level officials’ group which include representatives from the LGA, delivery agencies from the pilot places and the significant spend departments, including HM Treasury.

The Leadership Centre for Local Government is working with the pilot areas on behalf of the LGA Group to help them deliver the best outcomes for people through Total Place. CLG have also asked Tribal Consulting to work with pilots on aspects of customer insight and counting work. The pilots will also be supported by the IDeA and Government Office network to capture and share information and link up places undertaking similar work.

The Leadership Centre and LGA Group

The Leadership Centre for Local Government is supporting the pilots on behalf of the LGA group. They are providing practical support and coordination for the 13 pilots. They are also responsible for the knowledge management strand of the work; helping share the learning and strengthen networks between the different organisations involved.

The Improvement and Development Agency is working with the Leadership Centre to support the learning and knowledge-sharing aspects of Total Place, particularly through their National Advisors.

Ministerial group

The Ministerial group, chaired by Secretary of State (SoS) for Communities and Local Government department (CLG), will ensure that the barriers and incentives for joint working are addressed swiftly and effectively and to drive forward action across Government. Membership includes:

  • Chief Secretary to the Treasury
  • Communities and Local Government
  • Minister for the Cabinet Office
  • LGA (Chairman Cllr Margaret Eaton or Cllr David Parsons)
  • Plus SoS from other significant spend departments such as HO, DWP, DCSF, DH

High-level officials’ group

A high-level officials’ group is chaired by Lord Michael Bichard, and meets every month. The principal role of the group is to support and provide oversight for the work of Total Place at national level, listen to the findings at the local level, ensure that interdependencies are identified and addressed, and to ensure that the project has full support across central government.

The standing agenda for the group will include:

  • Showcasing key achievements within the past period; the outlook for the next period; and progress against key milestones
  • Listening to and learning from the progress of the work in the 13 pilot areas
  • Developing the opportunities and resolving problems highlighted at the local level
  • Considering key programmes risks and issues, ensuring that adequate resourcing is in place to ensure the programme objectives are met
  • Update on the development of key products (particularly Pre-Budget Report and Budget reports and other key communications products) and commenting, inputting and providing approvals as appropriate
  • Reviewing interdependencies between Total Place  and other areas of work to ensure a joined-up approach and solutions.

Government Office Network

At the request of pilot areas, Government Offices in each region are able to act on behalf of Government to provide support and challenge via a named lead and to facilitate the support of all public sector agencies with the project. They will be engaged with the project at a national level, providing timely updates on key issues to the project team and acting as a consultee throughout the lifecycle of the project.

The Government Office network:

  • acts for Government in regions and localities
  • acts for regions and localities in Government
  • builds partnerships and delivers in partnership
  • supports the director-general ‘champions’ for each pilot place

Locality Managers in each Government Office provide the point of contact for places and Local Strategic Partnerships.

The Government Office Network will:

  • work with partners, including the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships and the Improvement and Development Agency, to raise awareness amongst Local Strategic Partnerships and Authorities on Total Place
  • support those Partnerships who wish to engage further by providing links to national work.  In particular, Government Offices will act on behalf of Government to dynamically engage the support of and contributions from local, regional and national public sector agencies.
  • support the work of the national pilots by facilitating the engagement of public sector agencies.  Government Offices will build on existing relationships to ensure good links with Whitehall.