Radical Reformers ep.99: Public Service Reform Special - Part 1: Relational Practice with Rob Wilson, Kathy Evans, Emma Lord, Ron Charlton, Toby Lowe, and Wendy Lansdown

The next two episodes of the Radical Reformers podcast will be a bit different (and hopefully a treat for the public service reform nerds out there!). They will focus on “relational practice” and “trusting place”. This episode focuses on relational practice.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent time with the leading relational practice experts from the UK and further afield at the PERU “Towards Relational Public Services” conference in Manchester and recorded snippets with some of the keynote speakers and attendees.

Relational practice is fast becoming the foundational element of all sensible public service reform thinking, and in this episode you will hear from the best in the field, including Rob Wilson, Kathy Evans, Emma Lord, Ron Charlton, Toby Lowe, and Wendy Lansdown.

The second public service reform special will focus on “Trusting Place” and will unpack the findings of an LGA report that the Mutual Ventures team and Restate were commissioned to produce. I'll be joined by Simon Kaye, Professor Donna Hall and Eve Roodhouse.

We think relational practice and place working are two sides of the same coin and essential if we are to shift towards prevention, reduce demand/cost across the system and re-establish trust between public services and communities.

The good news is that real progress is being made on the policy front. Throughout both episodes, we reference the “test, learn and grow” principles produced by the Cabinet Office, the Spending Review policy announcement on “Community Help Partnerships” and the recent Public Service Reform Strategy from the Scottish Government.

Relational practice and place working feature heavily in the Radical Place Leadership work the MV team have been doing in areas such as South Ayrshire, North East Lincolnshire and Brent and also forms a big part of the reform support we are providing as part of the local government reform process.

We hope you find these episodes useful. Catch the first one now!

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