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.
Exeter City Council has created Wellbeing Exeter, a strategic alliance with Devon County Council and Sport England, which aims to link up community, healthcare and wellbeing services, and to reinforce local assets which might strengthen wellbeing outcomes.
Youth Voice is a project taking place in East Suffolk, in the East of England. The initiative forms part of East Suffolk Council’s enabling communities strategy, and is run by the Communities Team.
The ‘Unacceptable’ project took place in Essex in the East of England. It was a response from Essex County Council to national concerns raised by Ofsted and NSPCC about sexual violence in schools.
Durham County Council delivers a cross-county programme called DurhamWorks which supports unemployed 16-24 year olds to progress into employment, education or training (EET). To date, DurhamWorks has supported 8750 young people with 78 per cent progressing into EET or gaining a qualification. This provides the framework within which the Sessional Employment Programme (SEP) sits.
Inclusion is at the heart of Hampshire County Council’s strategies and planning, with recognition of the need to bolster support for those hard-to-reach groups with lower level skills. Hampshire Virtual College aims to ensure that young people have access to high quality, post 16 education, employment and training.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council provides a mentoring service for apprentices in the private or public sectors. This is part of the Council’s employment and skills team and links with wider services to support harder-to-reach young people, including care leavers and those with disabilities.
Little Troopers is a cross-agency partnership between Swindon Libraries and Information Service, Family Nurse Partnership, Housing, and Care Leavers teams to support young, vulnerable families. The open, drop-in group is for parents up to 25 years, with the average age around 20, and their children up to age three.
The Story Buses were initially launched in January 2020. The buses arose from the need to replace the library vehicle fleet and resulted in two Story Buses, named Sam and Nelly by the children, with exciting exterior designs by illustrator Nick Sharratt and interiors with well-designed spaces to sit and read.
Reception Reading Stars is a reading activity to help foster a love of books and reading targeted at parents/carers of children about to enter reception class in September.