Manchester Co-Production Roadshow

Events

Manchester Co-Production Roadshow

Date: 07.04.2011

Location: Manchester Communication Academy

The Manchester Co-production roadshow was hosted jointly by Coprodnet, NESTA and nef. The event was part of a series of 5 Roadshows showcasing examples of people powered public services across the country and providing a platform for practitioners and decision makers to share experiences on achieving more in public services.

Watch the event video

Patsy Hodson, Vice Principal of the Manchester Communication Academy welcomed the delegates on behalf of the 220 students in the Academy and Halima Khan, deputy director of NESTA's Public Services Lab, opened the day by explaining how co-production emerged as one of the key models in the Lab's experience of promoting people powered public services.

Defining Co-production

Anna Coote, from the new economics foundation, framed co-production in the context of three parallel and interdependent dymensions: the market, natural and social economies. She said that, while growth in the market economy can come mostly at the expense of the natural economy, growth in the social economy is possible and necessary. This growth can be brought about by realising the potential of human resources and pooling different kinds of knowledge and skills. At this time of financial and environmental crisis, Anna said, we need to innovate our way out of trouble. She explained that co-production is not a blueprint, but rather a set of principles that can be adapted and customised. Co-production can help realise the idea of the Big Society. Evidence shows that it can strengthen social networks, improve wellbeing, prevent needs arising, transform public services and make them more sustainable.

Paul Davies, Executive Director for Social Care and Inclusion at Walsall Council, talked about co-production in the framework of a radical reform of the public sector. He recognised that many interventions had been tried in the past, and not all successful. He reflected on his experience of social care services and said that individual budgets, though intended to deliver a shift of power from service professionals to people, do not often achieve this. Paul said that the biggest barriers to mainstreaming co-production are: accountability and risk adversity in public agencies; a culture in which people "in power" do not engage with service users in an equal way and the tendency to apply restrictive labels to people, defining them through their needs and weaknesses.

He said he believes in mobilising the power of communities to deliver better public outcomes, especially at a time when we are witnessing a fundamental and irreversible change to the way we deliver public services.

Co-production working in practice

The workshops shared examples of co-production applied to systems (such as commissioning, design or assessments) and to services:

Trudi Wright shared Kirklees' experience of commissioning for coproduction - Trudi Wright's presentation (PDF 448Kb)
Carol Taylor and Ralph Broad talked about the Local Area Coordinator scheme in Middlesborough and the impact it has had on delivering social care services - Carol Taylor and Ralph Broad's presentation (PDF 371Kb)
Sarah Drummond shared Snook's experience of supporting co-production through design - Sarah Drummond's presentation (PDF 9.8Mb)
Jane Foot suggested a radical re-think of Joint strategic needs assessments and talked about holding Joint strategic asset assessments with communities as a starting point for co-production - Jane Foot's presentation (PDF 291Kb)
Phil Arnold shared his experience of involving young people in running Reddish Vale Technology College and his journey towards coproduction
Jill Parker and Vicki Brown talked about Keyring's model of support for people with learning disabilities - Jill Parker and Vicki Brown's presentation (PDF 1.7Mb)
Louise Thomas talked about the RSA co-produced an area based curriculum in Peterborough - Louise Thomas' presentation (PDF 1Mb)
Paul Clarke and Robin Tuddenham shared the story of Incredible Edible and the way that it brought people in Calderdale together on a local food growing project - Paul Clarke and Robin Tuddenham's presentation (PDF 4.4Mb)