Despite all the good work of the last decade in local government, there is still a need within the sector to develop new approaches to delivery if we are going to meet the challenges facing public services both now and in the future.

The Innovation Catalyst was a partnership designed to help do just that by generating, incubating and spreading innovation in local government in order to help councils meet tomorrow’s challenges of better outcomes, smarter services, and greater efficiency.

The Innovation Catalyst was a partnership with the Innovation Unit, supported and funded by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and working in conjunction with Essex, Knowsley, Sheffield and Westminster Local Authorities.

The project had three key strands of work:

1. A collaborative workstream on youth crime, providing research, intensive support and innovation consultants to help develop and support innovative pilots.
2. The creation of local government specific resources to support and build capacity for innovation and its diffusion, including building a community of practice and online portal.
3. Developing an operational and governance model for the Innovation Catalyst in the future, with a series of delivery mechanisms underneath.

The three key strands of work began in September 2008 with a scoping workshop looking at the challenges faced by the four Local Authorities and the problems they each wanted to address in relation to youth crime. A second event, providing intensive support to the Local Authorities, allowing them to feedback on their initial ideas and share information and expertise with the other Local Authorities, took place in October.

Youth crime was been chosen because there was an urgent need for innovation in the criminal justice system and ways to reduce offending. Crime prevention and reduction, as well as associated anti-social behaviour, featured heavily in the most recent submission of indicators selected by local authorities to be measured in local area agreements (LAA). The work built on our Innovation, Justice and Youth programme.

Key reading:

• Collaborative projects on youth crime. Working withEssex, Knowsley, Sheffield and Westminster local authorities.

For further information about the innovation catalyst please contact Vicki Sellick.