Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills John Denham will tomorrow challenge Britain’s designers, policy makers and service providers to work together to create more effective and innovative public services which respond better to the needs of the public.
John Denham will announce the challenge at the launch of a major new programme with the Design Council called ‘Public Services by Design’. The two-year programme will work closely with designers, providers, front-line staff and users of public services to develop a widely-applicable design methodology which managers can use to find and implement genuine innovations to transform their services.
The programme is one of the key recommendations of the recent white paper ‘Innovation Nation’, which seeks to increase and support public sector innovation.
The programme will run ‘live demonstrations’ to prove the advantages of using a design-led approach. One of the first services to benefit will be a total overhaul of the careers guidance service which was announced by the government on 31st October. A design-led approach (co-ordinated by The Design Council) will be a key part of the development of the new Adult Advancement and Career Service. The aim is to ensure that the new service much more effectively delivers not just careers guidance but a whole raft of other support services to help people throughout their working life, including advice on finance, housing and training.
John Denham said: “It is important that the Government understands the real barriers people face when training or trying to get on in life. The Adult Advancement and Careers Service (AACS) will help them to do that.
“It will ensure people can get training and careers guidance alongside advice on support to overcome the potential blockages that may prevent them accessing it. Finding suitable childcare, understanding employment rights and problems with housing can all be a barrier. Using the AACS as a pilot project for this design led approach will help them to do so in the most innovative way.
“I'm confident that it will become a clear demonstration of the practical advantages of good design to everyday lives.”
Design Council Chief Executive David Kester said: “It’s very exciting that the Design Council has been commissioned to create a new design-led programme to increase public sector innovation. We have had success already in our SME programme and through our work with the Home Office and the NHS as well as our community innovation programme.”
Over the last four years the Design Council has worked on a number of public sector demonstrations with hospitals, schools and communities, and has supported and developed new thinking and practices around the role of design in public services. These and other projects have shown that a design-led approach can be very effective in transforming public services. For example, violent incidents fell by 80% in Birmingham Heartlands Hospital A&E department after designers used new techniques to analyse how the layout and construction of the department affected the behaviour of distressed and sick people entering the building. By implementing some simple design changes, attacks on staff fell dramatically.
The Design Council is asking those in involved in managing, delivering or commissioning public services to become partners and contributors in the development of the Public Services by Design programme. For more information contact: publicservicesbydesign@designcouncil.org.uk
For press enquiries contact:
Saskia Sissons at the Design Council on: 07773 768 073 pressoffice@designcouncil.org.uk