This is the vision: whenever citizens want to use a local service, the council will be their first contact. Be it across health, education or all other services fundamental to supporting our wellbeing, the council must be positioned as the access point.

This implies a significant investment in trust from all relevant parties. Local partners and central government will need to be confident councils are best equipped to lead on joining up services. Councils must be confident they have the skills, resources and authority to do the job. And finally, citizens should feel confident that whenever they have problems with local public services or public policies, their council will be able to assist.