Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
The BookTrust’s Storytime Prize aims to build confidence and enjoyment in sharing books with children and encourage visits to the library, by inviting families to explore and vote for their national Storytime prizewinning book.
Net Zero Now is a one-year project from Cambridge Carbon Footprint which was awarded £15,000 by South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Zero Carbon Communities (ZCC) grant scheme. The Net Zero Now project designed and delivered free training for community action on climate change. It trained 12 individuals to become local ambassadors for climate change. These individuals are now working on initiatives ranging from village hall sustainability, toy and book swaps, bike repair schemes and eco-festivals. The resources developed through the project have been transformed into a free online training course and will help to deliver future in-person and online courses.
Brighton & Hove launched a voluntary healthy choice scheme 14 years ago for cafes, restaurants and takeaways and is now making it mandatory for its commissioned catering services to follow good practice.
Although Scotland had a minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) of just 8, since 2011 it has not been possible to prosecute children aged under 12 in a criminal court.
A design team came together drawing from staff in CAMHS, education, the voluntary sector and Youth Offending Services from three local authorities. The team examined two local critical cases and identified a need for a primarily solution-focused emotional wellbeing support for children in the 8-13 age range.
The CAMHS team are implementing systemic, relationship therapy with additional behavioural and CBT programmes as appropriate. Similarly, they use the Assessment Intervention Moving on (AIMS) sexual offending programme with children as part of a wider offer, including systemic or family therapies addressing the complex family trauma.