Blue Badge Workshops – In partnership with WLGA

First an apology, this blog should have been delivered in a timelier way and also it should have been more comprehensive. But as both of my sessions were cut massively short by overruns, I can put that up as mitigation. Don’t worry it is normally me that overruns so its good for me to be on the receiving end! I would like to dedicate more time to the blog but as time conflicts kick in I decided to adopt the agile approach and to deliver a MVB – Minimum Viable Blog. Depending on what gets decided tomorrow by Welsh Government and subsequently by the Local Authorities might be irrelevant. Also if I don’t do it now it will be to old and not get done at all and I feel passionately I wanted to reflect on the 2 workshops and the report. We were invited to facilitate a couple of workshops related to Blue Badge Services in Wales by Clover Rodriguez of the Welsh Local Government association. The need for the workshops was driven by the National Assembly for Wales Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee report on the Blue Badge Scheme in Wales. The report undertook a review of the service and came up with a series of recommendations for potential improvements that Welsh Government now need to consider and decide if/how they may implement them. To use the definition from Gov.uk

The Blue Badge scheme helps you park closer to your destination if you’re disabled.

It’s a bit basic as a definition but it is the definition from the government and as good a place as anywhere to start. Recently the scheme has undergone huge changes with the Department For Transport delivering an entirely new system along with some legislative change outside of Wales for hidden disabilities. The report picked up on a number of issues but a clear theme underpinning the results was the lack of consistency in application of the scheme across Wales (understandable as the legislation is open to interpretation and the responsibility is devolved to local government). It is fair to say recent legislative changes outside Wales have caused new issues both inside and outside Wales with confusion over differing rules. The report detailed feedback from service users, local government and third sector agencies amongst others about the difficulties in administration of the current system. John Griffiths AM picked up a couple of highlights in his introduction to the report.

Blue badges provide a lifeline for a range of people in our society. Without them many would struggle to access essential services such as attending medical appointments. Difficulty in visiting shops and using leisure facilities would diminish their ability to lead independent lives and they could become more isolated and confined to their own homes. The system must be fit for purpose given its importance to our communities. Differing arrangements across the 22 councils have led to inconsistencies in implementation across Wales. Addressing this should be a priority for Welsh Government and local authorities so that everyone may receive a quality service, regardless of where they live. We have made practical suggestions to encourage, and achieve, consistency.

So, what did we do?

Across the 2 days of workshops we heard from many experts in the field. Unfortunately, the service user representatives were unable to make the workshops however the user needs were well represented in the room. We hear from Daniel Fyfield from DFT about progress to date, Susan Blunt from Welsh Government about the next steps they are undertaking, some Local Authorities who contributed to the original report, Pembrokeshire County Council on their approach and IEG4 about what they have done with solutions. There was a good mixture of sessions in a variety of mediums and some outputs captured that can hopefully help Local Authorities move forward. Some key learning from the day was the start of the Welsh Government Local Authority group and the need for all to join as well as the real red-letter day for the next information being the 16th October 2019 after the report, recommendations and planned actions are debated in the Welsh Assembly.

Responses to the report’s contents

Generally, there was an acknowledgement that the reports contents were fair and fundamentally the principle of a common approach to the Blue Badge scheme across Wales would be advantageous. There are a number of challenges to being able to deliver this and some of these are detailed below. Key issues/challenges and solutions: • Communication across LA’s • Clarity of guidance from Welsh Government • Resources / capacity to implement • Different IT systems • Opportunity for consistency / standardisation of assessments • Funding / resources at a local level differ greatly Good practice examples: • Whilst we did not have sufficient time to go in to detail on this, it was expressed that there were lots of examples of good practice at local LA level and it would be useful to be able to share these across the region. What next? • Identify leadership to take this forward and own it • Ensure efforts are coordinated and not splintered • Ensure all stakeholders have a voice • Single working group to bring LAs together to find a solution to key issues

An opportunity to improve?

For me the report provides an opportunity. Fundamentally it is an opportunity to improve the service for the users. First of all, it is an opportunity for Welsh Local Government to be an exemplar for how the scheme can be run in a consistent way for users. It is an opportunity to learn from best practice across Wales and to codesign a standard consistent process for service users. It is an opportunity for Welsh Government to provide clear guidance to their views on how the scheme should be administered in Wales. It is an opportunity to consider rationalising the many systems used by Welsh Local Authorities and to collaborate to build or buy a single solution. It is an opportunity to make savings in systems costs by adopting a single system. It is an opportunity to look at other collaboration across Blue Badge services such as creating a common reporting tool for the data you can download from DFT.

What can make some great changes happen?

First of all, the effort needs to be coordinated. On a personal level I think that WLGA are probably best to help coordinate the efforts of LA’s in Wales. It needs Welsh Government to decide what it wants to happen, to create clear guidance and to fund appropriately any additional work that is required. Most importantly it needs the LA’s to have a will to work together and make it happen. Even if the WLGA don’t coordinate the efforts and the WG don’t create clear guidance it would still be possible for LA’s to make significant headway on understanding differences and improving consistency. I believe there is a clear business case on software alone. I believe as with any process/continuous improvement exercise there will also be efficiencies identified in processes. From my experience this is very achievable to review your blue badge processes and to deliver a better service and to save money. We would love to help move this forward.

Are you up for it?

You do not need us to help, but collaborative value driving projects is what we are passionate about contributing to and investing in with the Local Authority Sector (hence our attendance and help in pulling it together). You really do not need us though. We are lucky in Wales to have excellent Local Authorities such as Carmarthenshire, Rhondda, Cardiff and Pembrokeshire using our excellent software (see what it does here) and coaching to deliver real improvements in processes. Any of those can facilitate the improvement sessions and drive this forward using the best continuous improvement collaborative software. Sometimes it is helpful to have someone not involved and removed from the process to help and if you think it adds value we would help.

Outputs

Have a look at some of the outputs from the day in our online process collaboration tool. Please let us have feedback on your perspective on the report recommendations. Please leave any comments/thoughts you have on the report as a process map https://viewerapp.engageprocess.com/?dId=13436c71-b6b6-434c-9ad3-22f54b1dd0f9&state=6&[email protected]&vpass=qxBWKKpfXPAxiPNpLOy2Qw-;7;–;7;-

My hopes for tomorrows debate outcomes

1. I hope Welsh Government make decisions to try to address the main recommendations of the report and address the differences in assessment across the Local Authorities in Wales 2. I hope that they fund some changes to enable Local Authorities to sort it out and achieve benefits of a shared approach/systems project 3. I hope irrespective of the Welsh Government outcomes that Local Authorities see the opportunity and bring together a project to collaborate and address the widely acknowledged (and totally excusable) problems 4. I hope that other Local Authorities across the UK also adopt a similar approach to solving these national problems Just a small challenge then! But I know you can do it and I also know there are real tangible benefits to a collaboration. Why not have a look at this process from the perspective created using Wardley Maps to describe the situation have a look here at part 2 of this blog