Public Service Reform: Test, Learn and Grow Programme

I am pleased to announce an update on the next stages of the Cabinet Office test, learn and grow programme, and how it will work with local places across England.

The £100 million programme is a flagship part of the Government’s reform programme and aims to model and scale a missions approach by bringing policymakers closer to the frontline. The next phase of the test, learn and grow programme will bring cross-Government teams together with those that use and deliver public services and experience the day-to-day barriers when processes are not working, in order to reform services together. New solutions will be built from the ground up, moving rapidly to learn and adapt based on what works. The accelerators will identify blockers and barriers to delivering people-focused, preventive public services, and work to make change in Government to quickly scale learning.

This test and learn approach, outlined by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in December, will help to tackle our biggest national challenges and make better policy with and for communities to deliver on our plan for change. The programme has already had impact through its work in four locations on family hub services and temporary accommodation.

Today we are announcing the 10 places in England that we will work with as part of the next wave of projects on the ground. In each case, we will test out new approaches to a specific public service challenge, bringing local and central teams together with common purpose on the frontline. In mayoral strategic authority areas, we will work with both MSAs and the relevant local authority creating a partnership approach across all layers of Government to deliver for people.

Challenges the teams will look at will include increasing the uptake of Best Start family hubs to support parents and young children, establishing neighbourhood health services, better supporting children with special needs, getting more people into work, rolling out breakfast clubs, and tackling violence against women and girls. The 10 places are:

Barnsley metropolitan borough council

Wakefield council

Manchester city council

Liverpool city council

Sandwell metropolitan borough council

Northumberland county council

Essex county council

Plymouth city council

Nottingham city council

We are working with the GLA and London councils to agree London borough involvement

Our approach to the programme has been designed in partnership with local government, and I look forward to continuing to work with a wide range of partners to ensure that the learnings and benefits of the programme are shared widely across the sector. The programme will build a coalition around test, learn and grow, and public service reform, bringing in external expertise and tech specialists, and partnering with public service innovators. We will work closely with other key initiatives and players, and continue to work in the open.

I look forward to engaging with hon. Members and local government leaders to make this a truly collaborative programme between local communities and the centre of Government. I am grateful for the ongoing support and collaboration of the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, and countless colleagues across central Government and local government who have helped to shape, design and challenge the programme so far, and who I hope will continue to lend their passion and energy.

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