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.
Greenwich has been working on this issue since 2012 and has used football as a medium to reach out to the local community. The project resulted in participants playing a friendly match against soldiers from Woolwich barracks where Lee Rigby was based when he was murdered. The council has also developed an interactive DVD for school children which is being rolled out nationally.
Waltham Forest has made early intervention a priority as part of its Prevent work. One of it’s flagship programmes is ‘Digital Resilience’, an education resource for secondary school children and staff designed to safeguard young people from potentially harmful information or views online.
Commissioners are vital in the process of making the most of collective resources to improve health outcomes for local citizens. The role of commissioning is no longer about identifying and procuring services for individuals but bringing people together to enable citizens to live a fulfilling and independent life for as long as possible.
Summary
Top housing priority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets is reducing severe overcrowding. Overcrowding contributes to mental health problems and transmission of infectious diseases. The council is undertaking an ambitious building and buy-back programme, along with other innovative measures to reduce overcrowding.
Faced with very poor oral health in young children and significant inequalities throughout the district, Bradford Metropolitan District Council has prioritised the oral health of young children, including it in its Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Inequalities Action Plan.
Children in Lancashire and Cumbria have poorer dental health compared to children in other parts of England. The Smile4Life programme was developed in partnership with local authorities to address this problem.
While oral health in Suffolk is generally good, just over 18 per cent of five-year-olds already have dental decay and in some parts of the county nearly a quarter have one or more decayed teeth.
Very young children in Manchester were found to have high levels of tooth decay. Prolonged bottle feeding, often with sugared drinks, was of particular concern in this area.