Horizontal Integration

Today started off with some professional ‘horizontal integration’, before any assumptions are made, it is a special branch created within DSS, to act as a troubleshooter, innovator and fixer. Over coffee I attempted to talk my way into a job, using our phraseology for such things, declaring that I will deliver transformational change!

The branch was created to bring specific capacity into improving alignment across and within services within government, indeed ‘horizontal’ integration. It seems to have added real value, and has delivered some important system fixes, enabling a more ‘citizen’ focused approach to the provision of services.

What is so lovely about being in DSS, is that the familiarity is here- I’m dealing with the issues I care about, and I’m working with people who share my passion, but work in a completely different set of rules, structures and norms.

Being here, enjoying getting to know colleagues, and understanding what their roles are, and where they fit into this structure Is just a pleasure- sometimes it feels like a weird out of body experience, the building is markedly similar to Cathays Park, the problems often the same. But, I love it when we are in a meeting and things that just could not happen at home happen. Notably this includes meetings starting and finishing on time and getting through huge agenda’s in less than 8 hours. Somewhat less notably, we have four hour meetings in the senate on a Friday. I fear that I have given an opinion of Britain that we spend a lot of time in the Pub, especially on a Friday, I do this every time I brightly follow the actual directors into a Friday afternoon hearing, and then immediately resent that I am not in the pub.

What does happen here, and I have mentioned it before is that they legislate. A lot.

To put this into context, so far this year there are 104 Bills of direct relevance to social services. There are an additional 130 Bills, which may have an indirect impact. So far this year in total, 2702 bills have been introduced by the legislature. They have 80 Assembly Members and 40 Senators.

My favourite moment remains, when the Deputy Director Greg announced in a bill analysis meeting, we had 55 minutes to cover 36 bill proposals. And we did it. And they do it extremely adeptly and well. The staff who work to track and analyse bills are highly valued and respected, as you would expect.

We don’t have the culture or the capacity yet to have experienced anything like the legislative machine that operates here, and in the UK the view is that legislation should not be a default. Somewhere between our two systems would be ideal, because what legislation does, is it acts as a catalyst for the development of ideas that will deliver real change, and addresses some perennial policy problems.

A lot of the Bills, I have had sight of are interesting, and relevant to us, to give you a flavor, some specify new service models like short term residential therapeutic models, in a way that differs to our traditional understanding of therapeutic and new services for victims of CSE, information sharing, grants for looked after children and job readiness schemes for future care leavers.

The reforms I am looking at are statute based, and mark the start of fundamental system change in California for the looked after system. There is so much around their language, the content of the legislation, and the funding streams that I want to look into and explore, and there is so much that can be taken from here and used back home-not least an office for horizontal integration, that ideally I get to lead.