The concept of Total Place emerged following twin projects called Calling Cumbria and Counting Cumbria, which analysed how public money from national, regional and local public sectors comes together in Cumbria and how local public, private and voluntary organisations could work more effectively together on issues ranging from worklessness to climate change.

Published in December 2008, the reports on this work identified £7.1 billion worth of potential improvements and efficiencies which were then set in motion.

• Calling Cumbria and Counting Cumbria reports
  
  

On 21 April 2009, HM Treasury published the findings of its Operational Efficiency Programme, which included a strand on Local incentives and empowerment, led by Sir Michael Bichard, Director of the Institute for Government.

Bichard made a series of recommendations aimed at empowering professionals to collaborate and innovate, and creating the space for this by reducing burdens on the frontline. His proposals included taking forward the new 'Total Place' programme.

• More on the Bichard proposals

In an interview published in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) on 17 September, however, Bichard was emphatic that the 'real questions' for Total Place are 'what are the key priority issues for this area, how can they be tackled more effectively and how can we reduce costs while doing that.'

• Read the LCG interview

Following this success, Hazel Blears, then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, announced a series of Total Place pilot schemes that would adopt the twin-strand approach, in a statement on 23 April 2009:

• Hazel Blears' announces Total Place pilots
  
  

On 1 July 2009, Richard Kemp, Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Association, urged councils to proceed with Total Place initiatives in their areas, without waiting for instructions from central government.

• Richard Kemp reported in the Local Government Chronicle
  
  

On 30 July 2009 the pilots were launched by her successor, John Denham, in: Birmingham; Bradford; Central Bedfordshire and Luton; Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire; Croydon; Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth; Durham; Kent; Leicester and Leicestershire; Lewisham; Manchester City Region and Warrington; South Tyneside, Gateshead and Sunderland; and Worcestershire.

• John Denham launches Total Place pilots
  
  

The themes chosen for the pilots included housing, regeneration, tackling alcohol and drug abuse, children's health and well being, mental health services, and tackling crime.

The list of themes above makes the relevance of Total Place to local third sector organisations (TSOs) more obvious. Different TSOs are significant stakeholders in all these issues and many others. The services they deliver are often funded with public money through locally or nationally negotiated grants and contracts.

Through their local infrastructure organisations and representation on local public bodies (such as local strategic partnerships, health trusts and housing associations) TSOs can contribute to the counting element of Total Place and explore Bichard's questions about identifying and tackling key priority issues, while ensuring that public money is spent as effectively as possible.

On 13 August 2009, the Local Government Chronicle reported that Birmingham City Council and Worcestershire County Council had completed their counting phases, identifying identified over £10 billion of public expenditure in the two areas.

• LGC report

On 2 September 2009, the Financial Times published a full-page article on Total Place.

• Big idea to reassess public spending (FREE registration required)

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