Local partnerships generate strategies and objectives, but these do not always have the ambition or buy-in to influence decision-making. We need to take improvement between organisations as seriously as we take it within our own, writes Matthew Taylor.

Collaboration is arguably the greatest strategic challenge public sector leaders face. In the health service, how we work together is a critical variable. As the NHS Confederation has been highlighting, health service leaders – like those in local government – are facing major financial challenges, but better joint working has the scope to make us more effective, productive and innovative.