The Co-op Councils Innovation Network (CCIN) is calling for applications for its next round of policy lab funding.
At its annual conference, held at Rochdale Town Hall yesterday, it heard feedback from previous policy labs – research projects carried out by councils with funding from the CCIN – a network of local authorities looking to embed co-op practices into their services and local economies
One of thee labs was run run by Plymouth Council on a ‘cities of service’ programme, which would see local voluntary actors co-ordinate their efforts towards common goals.
Cllr Chris Penberthy said this had developed an engagement model for “identifying challenges, finding solutions, putting them to work, showing the impact, reporting back, adding challenges in as you go”. This has included work on food poverty, providing a year’s worth of fresh fruit and veg to 1,400 households, and engaged with disadvantated households and people on cusp of type 2 diabetes.
Plymouth also ran a policy lab looking for grassroots ways to implement the Co-operatives Unleashed strategy, drawn up by sector body Co-operatives UK to double the size of the UK movement.
Cllr Anna Peachey said this includes the need to make a case for co-operation as a thriving, productive opportunity to win business interest and make a case for council resources. The policy lab will release a report and toolkit, with links to co-op development agencies, next spring.
Meanwhile, Oldham Council looked at sustainable food; the council’s strategy, partnerships and policy manager Jonathan Downs said this took a cross-sectoral approach. “It’s about finding right people to work on the scandal of food going to waste,” he said, “So we can get it to the hands of those who need it.”
Looking to future policy lab work, Cllr David Jones from Newcastle Under Lyme Council called for ideas on social care, with budgets coming under huge pressure from funding gaps and councils “undergoing challenges, just so we can meet statutory requirements”.
“The pressures are unprecedented. Each year 27% of care workers leave the workforce; workers are on temporary contracts, zero hours contracts – it”s not in any way sustainable.
“The impact of these pressures are missed targets, residents waiting weeks to see a GP, and the most demoralised workforce my colleagues have ever seen.”
He added that money alone was not the answer. “Health and social care depend on how communities relate to them. Someone needs to step up and provide leadership.
Related: Main report from the CCIN conference
He said the co-op values and principles would be important in driving innovation – but also “we don’t know the answers – that’s why we’re asking you”.
Cllr Penberty, calling for new proposals, said CCIN was adopting a difference approach. “Next year there’ll be no policy labs; instead we’ll have smaller prototypes at local level which seek to explore at greater depth and through case study something transformational, through the application of co-op values and principles”.
Related: CCIN conference looks at co-op development bodies
CCIN wants small pitches – for £1,500 if funding – from full and associate members, from big regional authorities down to parish level.
“We would like to see as diverse a range of examples as possible,” he said. “We want the parties to take notice when the report comes out in 2020.”
