LG Challenge 2018 - challenge one

On a glacial Wednesday morning in early February, ten new contestants gathered in Barking Town Hall for the start of the 2018 Local Government Challenge – now entering its ninth year - and the opportunity to win the coveted £10,000 Bruce-Lockhart Scholarship.

With a tough five challenges ahead in councils up and down the country, and no idea what to expect over the next 24 hours, there was an undercurrent of nervous excitement in Committee Room 2 as the LGA's Claire Holloway welcomed the contestants and outlined what they might expect over the next 6 months. Amongst the line-up of contestants, a new direction for the Challenge as MHCLG's Peter Sebastian becomes the first central government representative to join the competition. (No pressure there Peter!)

Taking up position in front of the ever-present LG Challenge camera, this year wielded by new addition to the team, Arun Marsh, Barking and Dagenham Chief Executive Chris Naylor gave a dynamic introduction to the Barking and Dagenham challenge. Chris painted a picture of the borough - the place and the people - as an area of inclusive growth and ambitious borough wide transformation.

The council's slogan - 'No one left behind' – is core to everything it does and the challenge set by Chris was no exception. The contestants had 24 hours to develop an action plan to help disabled people find and keep employment and benefit from the new opportunities offered by the growth of the borough – and the clock was already ticking.

The gauntlet thrown down, our two teams - Ambition and Vision – selected their team leaders, collected their weighty background packs and headed off to their allocated rooms to plan their lines of attack.

Under the expert leadership of Staffordshire Council's Natalie Morrissey and Usman Mirza from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the contestants were escorted through a whirlwind of fact-finding sessions - speed-dating with internal and third sector stakeholders; panel sessions with disabilities groups; visits to local adult colleges, enterprise groups and community arts facilities; and an illuminating 90 minutes with local High Street businesses owners discussing their attitudes to employing people with disabilities and learning difficulties.

Both teams split into groups to cover the packed schedule, feeding back between sessions against a constant backdrop of triangulating evidence, refining visions and developing cohesive business cases to present to the judges the next day.

In true LG Challenge tradition, day one ended with a networking dinner, this time at Cristina's– a quaint local Barking steak restaurant, whose steaks and signature brownies rapidly re-energized the contestants, as they took the opportunity to quiz senior B&D officers - Baljeet Nagra, Head of Disabilities Service; Anne Bristow, Deputy Chief Executive; and Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health, Cllr Maureen Worby. By the time the last brownie had been consumed the contestants were buzzing with new ideas and busily plotting their strategies for the next day.

Day 2 and the two teams emerged surprisingly bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to meet local arts, education and skills organisations to examine their views on disability employment in Barking and Dagenham. An illuminating ideas testing session followed with Disabilities Service Head, Baljeet Nagra and Mark Fowler, newly appointed Head of Community Solutions – an innovative new service that looks at individual or family needs holistically to deal with issues at their core.

With so much information and so many perspectives to sift and distil, both teams raced to prepare their two-side business cases and a sharp presentation that would convince the judges in 10 minutes that they had best delivered the challenge they were set.

Team Ambition were first to face the panel, made up of Council Leader, Cllr Darren Rodwell; cabinet member Cllr Maureen Worby; Chief and Deputy Chief Executives, Chris Naylor and Anne Bristow and LGA judge, Claire Holloway.

Their innovative '5% Pledge' proposed a mix of incentives and marketing designed to persuade local businesses to fill at least 5% of their workforce with disabled people - starting with the council and their associated companies to set the bar. The proposal received the Leader's highest accolade - "Dagenham Simple" - which set a high bar for Team Vision to clear with their basket of initiatives centered on a specialist brokerage service for employers and disabled residents. An accessible, primarily digital platform would match residents' abilities with employment opportunities, rather than focusing on their disabilities.

Each team received a 15 minute grilling on the financials of their business plans, their understanding of the issues behind the challenge set and their adherence to the council's core 'No one left behind' philosophy.

The judges were impressed by both teams, but one team had to win and after a lengthy deliberation – Cllr Rodwell revealed that the ambition of Team Ambition had beaten the vision of Team Vision. Clearly a good day for captain Natalie, who had earlier heard that she had secured a promotion back at home in Staffordshire. Many former contestants have attributed career advancement to the LG Challenge – but not generally quite that quickly!

It was clear though that both teams had impressed the judges – cabinet member Cllr Worby said, 'I'll be stealing bits of both team ideas and both teams picked up on all the right issues', whilst Cllr Rodwell congratulated them for coming up with 'initiatives that bought into the real aspirations of the borough'.

So – one challenge down and it's advantage Ambition. Next stop, the West Midlands where Vision will be looking to even the score at Staffordshire County Council. Watch this space.

The LGA would like to thank London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for hosting an excellent challenge and for their ongoing support for the competition. Particular thanks to former LG Challenge contestants Heather Storey and Katherine Heffernan, for making it all happen.

If you are interested in being involved in the Local Government Challenge please email [email protected]