Summary As part of the Cambridgeshire County Council Policy Challenges, a team of three researchers was challenged to address the question of: What are the next generation of models to transform organisations, and how could they benefit Cambridgeshire County Council? The council is facing significant pressures due to the need to meet challenging budget reductions whilst delivering services to a growing population in Cambridgeshire.

Furthermore, as devolution of power gains traction in the UK, including the establishment of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, and digital technology plays a growing role in society, there are opportunities to change how services are delivered. Within the context of the council’s transformation process, through meeting different members of the council and examining the literature, a series of recommendations have been made that span the areas of Governance, Organisation, System Methodologies, Leadership, Culture and Technology.

These recommendations can be drawn together into a vision for the potential next step of transformation, involving more radical change across the whole organisation and to its approach and culture, making it more collaborative, citizen focused, agile and responsive, involving greater delegation of delivery, flexibility and improved infrastructure. This report provides an overview of the work of the project. This begins with an overview of the policy challenges and the brief provided to the team, before discussing the approach taken during the project, the key areas of interest identified and types of models examined, and finally providing recommendations and providing an evaluation and proposal for future work. Further sub-reports provide detailed discussion of recommendations in each of the six areas, with brief rationale and examples.