Steve demands bigger say for people over public services

 

Steve has long argued for local people to have more control.  As leader of Lambeth Council until 2012 he set up a trust to give communities a bigger say over youth services, backed tenant-controlled housing estates, opened a parent-led secondary school, ensured children in care had a bigger say over how they were looked after, and supported a local currency in Brixton that keeps money circulating locally to support jobs and businesses.

The new publication, called Let It Go, includes an interview with Oldham Council Leader Jim McMahon who has set up an ethical care company that offers much-improved homecare services for older and disabled people.  McMahon says the secret of his success is to ‘just listen’ to the people on the frontline who provide and use the services.  Hilary Cottam, who has set up services that help the unemployed and older people, says that the key lesson is to “start from the point of view of people, not institutions.”

Reed and Kendall launched the pamphlet to support Labour Leader Ed Miliband’s call for more ‘people-powered public services’, an idea he says will be a key plank of Labour’s election manifesto

Steve commented: “There are plenty of examples right across the country of how people-power can improve public services even when there’s not much money around.  We wanted to bring some of the most innovative voices together so readers can see just how powerful a change this could be.  Instead of just cutting everything like the Tories have done, we want to show there are new and better ways to provide the support people need.”

 

You can read the publication here.