The government published a report examining the use of 'social clauses' as a means of incorporating social requirements into contracts for the delivery of public services. Legal uncertainties on the status of social clauses and European Union procurement rules, as well as lack of information and understanding, were barriers to their use. Additionally, responses from stakeholders frequently identified a difficulty in formulating the social clause as a core contractual requirement, and a difficulty in measurement at evaluation stage.
Source: Social Clauses Project: Report of the Social Clauses Project 2008, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2008-Dec
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the role of the third sector in providing public services. It said that it was committed to supporting the growing number of third sector organizations that wanted to play an active role in shaping and delivering public services.
Source: Public Services and the Third Sector: Rhetoric and Reality – Government Response to the Committee's Eleventh Report, Thirteenth Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 1209, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | CO press release | MPs report
Date: 2008-Dec
A think-tank report said that the public service reform agenda could not succeed simply by the 'top down' imposition of centralized targets or more market-based choice. It suggested instead the formation of a new public service 'reform paradigm' based on the principle and practice of co-production.
Source: Zoe Gannon and Neal Lawson, Co-production: The modernisation of public services by staff and users, Compass (020 7463 0633)
Links: Report | Compass press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A think-tank report said that public services had become too large and complex for effective central management. It called for a transfer of accountability for, and control of, public services to the local level. Most centrally imposed targets, guidelines, regulations, and codes of practice could then be abolished, as could many quangos.
Source: William Mason and Jonathan McMahon, Freedom for Public Services, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Dec
The government published a progress report two years after the launch of an action plan designed to reduce the barriers to third sector organizations being involved in delivering public services.
Source: Partnership in Public Services: The Public Services Action Plan – Two Years On, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A think-tank report said that public services were distinctive because they were characterized by claims of rights by citizens to services that had been authorized and funded through a democratic process. The concept of 'public value' was the analogue of the desire to maximize shareholder value in the private sector: it was designed to get public managers thinking about what was most valuable in the service that they ran, and to how to improve it.
Source: David Coats and Eleanor Passmore, Public Value: The next steps in public service reform, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales said that the Assembly Government should establish a central body or unit to promote and support partnership projects with the private sector. The central unit should take a lead role, with local management, in developing project specifications, negotiating contracts with the private sector partner, and monitoring and managing performance in relation to the contract.
Source: Inquiry into Public Private Partnerships, Finance Committee/National Assembly for Wales (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | NAW press release
Date: 2008-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government needed to do more to ensure that agreements between the public and private sectors provided good value for money. Many public authorities were 'not doing a good job' of managing public financial initiative contracts, and managers often lacked business expertise.
Source: HM Treasury: Making Changes in Operational PFI Projects, Thirty-sixth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 332, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | UNISON press release | BMA press release | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2008-Sep
A think-tank report called for radical devolution of decision-making across public services. It recommended a revived role for localism and local governance, constitutional reform to support new ways of working, and a Whitehall based on project working rather than 'departmental silos'.
Source: Chris Leslie, Managing Delivery: New public service architecture for the 21st century, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: NLGN press release
Date: 2008-Sep
A report (by a former government minister) examined the case for increasing the role played by 'user charges' (such as road tolls, university fees, social care insurance, and health charges) in the provision of public services. Introducing such charges would be 'very politically controversial', but could help public services to improve.
Source: Charles Clarke MP, Achieving the Potential: How best to pay for ever higher expectations of our public services, KPMG (020 7311 1000)
Links: Report | Guardian report | New Statesman report
Date: 2008-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that a number of improvements were needed in commissioning processes for public services, in order to help voluntary/community sector organizations compete for work. Nonetheless, further steps along this path should be accompanied by the collection of much firmer evidence on the impact that third sector delivery was having.
Source: Public Services and the Third Sector: Rhetoric and reality, Eleventh Report (Session 2007-08), HC 112, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAVCA press release | FT report (1) | FT report (2)
Date: 2008-Jul
A think-tank report said that the co-design of public services (whereby users and providers worked closely together to improve content, form, and delivery) still only occurred on the fringes of mainstream service design and policy in the United Kingdom compared with many other countries.
Source: Peter Bradwell and Sarah Marr, Making the Most of Collaboration: An international survey of public service co-design, Demos and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A think-tank report said that neither markets nor centralized bureaucracies were effective models for delivering public services based on relationships. The consumer model of public services – where professional systems delivered services to grateful and passive clients – missed out the equally important role played by those on the receiving end of services.
Source: Lucie Stephens, Josh Ryan-Collins and David Boyle, Co-production: A manifesto for growing the core economy, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Date: 2008-Jul
The Cabinet Office published its annual report for 2007-08.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008, HC 613, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
The report of a government-commissioned review said that the contribution of out-sourced public services to the economy had grown 130 per cent since 1995, representing the most developed public service industry in the world.
Source: DeAnne Julius, Understanding the Public Services Industry: How big, how good, where next?, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report | Research report | International comparisons | DBERR press release | TUC press release | CBI press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A trade union report said that successive attempts to introduce market mechanisms into public services by Labour and Conservative governments had not delivered better value, and had often made worse the problems they were designed to solve. Reform and modernization should instead be based on an alternative 'public value' model: the value for society created by public services needed to be based on a more sophisticated approach based on the wider needs of society, the satisfaction of service users, and the views of local communities, without neglecting value for money.
Source: Rethinking Public Service Reform: The public value alternative, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A Labour Party think-tank report set out a series of principles for the future reform of public services. Power should be moved from the centre to the local level; change should seek to empower and engage public service staff, not demoralize and demotivate them; change should be driven less from the centre by standards and targets and more from below by incentives and users; individual citizens should be able to exercise control, not just choice; and reforming public services should improve, not impede, social mobility.
Source: From Public Sector to Public Service: Putting citizens in control, Progress (020 3008 8180)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined the impact of new public management techniques on public trust in welfare state institutions, using the example of National Health Service reform. A comparison between perceptions in England (where the internal market had been vigorously pursued) and Scotland (where the purchaser/provider split had been discarded after devolution), indicated that the market did not offer a 'royal road' to perceptions of superior quality. Conversely, the more market-centred system could make progress in relation to the more 'subjective affectual' factors.
Source: Peter Taylor-Gooby, 'Trust and welfare state reform: the example of the NHS', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 42 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined the 'transformational government' initiative, designed to join up public services using information and communications technology.
Source: Terry Patterson, 'Transformational government', Benefits, Volume 16 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jun
The government published a 'bold vision' for transforming public services in England. Public services had improved 'dramatically' over the previous decade: but they were not yet world-class, and a new stage of reform was required. The report identified three key characteristics of world-class public services: empowering citizens who used public services; fostering a new professionalism in the public service workforce; and strong strategic leadership from central government to ensure that direct intervention was more sharply concentrated on underperforming organizations, while creating conditions for the majority of services to thrive more autonomously.
Source: Excellence and Fairness: Achieving world class public services, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release | TUC press release | BHA press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A new book examined public sector management and reform, focusing on the creation of executive agencies in central government during the 1980s.
Source: Kate Jenkins, Politicians and Public Services: Implementing change in a clash of cultures, Edward Elgar Publishing (01242 226934)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-May
A study examined different models of citizen-centred governance and the principles on which this was based. Towns and cities were governed by a patchwork of special-purpose governance structures operating alongside local authorities, National Health Service bodies, and other government agencies. The picture was 'complex and changing'. Citizens and service users in disadvantaged neighbourhoods were doubly disadvantaged: not only did they have to overcome the economic, social, and political barriers of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but their opportunities for involvement in shaping public services were also constantly being changed.
Source: Marian Barnes et al., Designing Citizen-centred Governance, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings
Date: 2008-May
The Scottish Government announced plans for improving infrastructure investment in public services. A new company – the Scottish Futures Trust – would aim to release up to £150 million each year for increased investment through greater partnership, improved preparation and handling of projects, and better value finance.
Source: Taking Forward the Scottish Futures Trust, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | SG press release | UNISON press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-May
The government announced (in the draft Queen's Speech) plans to introduce a Community Empowerment, Housing and Economic Regeneration Bill, designed to create greater opportunities for communities and individuals to influence the design and delivery of local public services; reform local and regional governance arrangements to promote economic regeneration; and extend the powers of the new social housing regulator to cover local authority landlords.
Source: Preparing Britain for the Future: The government's draft legislative programme, Cm 7372, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Queens Speech | Amendments | DCLG press release (1) | DCLG press release (2) | LGIU press release | NHF press release | RTPI press release | CPRE press release | Shelter press release | BPF press release
Date: 2008-May
A think-tank report called for a new wave of privatizations aimed at raising more than £20 billion and delivering significant operational benefits. The leading privatization candidates identified included the Royal Mail, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide, Scottish Water, Northern Ireland Water, Glas Cymru, the National Air Traffic Control System, and government stakes in British Energy and the nuclear industry.
Source: Nigel Hawkins, Privatization: Reviving the Momentum, Adam Smith Institute (020 7222 4995)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Apr
An article examined claims for the superiority of third/private sector organizations in public service provision. There was little evidence to support the government's case for the wholesale contracting out of employment services. Based on the experience of previous projects, if in-house provision were given the same flexibilities and financing routinely offered to contractors, it would match or surpass contractor performance.
Source: Steve Davies, 'Contracting out employment services to the third and private sectors: a critique', Critical Social Policy, Volume 28 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Apr
An article examined whether partnerships were effective in addressing the 'knowledge deficits' inherent in other modes of co-ordination, and in promoting understanding between different agencies and arms of government.
Source: Leslie Boydell, Paul Hoggett, Jorun Rugkasa and Anne-Marie Cummins, 'Intersectoral partnerships, the knowledge economy and intangible assets', Policy & Politics, Volume 36 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Apr
A series of articles examined the issue of citizenship-based and consumer-based rights of access to public services.
Source: Social Policy and Society, Volume 7 Issue 2
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2008-Apr
A think-tank report said that despite a huge increase in government spending over the previous 10 years, improvements in public services in Scotland had failed to keep pace with those in other European countries, including England. It called for: more direct, local accountability so that services were more responsive to the needs and wishes of people and local communities; greater decentralization of public services so that operational decisions were taken as close as possible to the people they affected; and increased diversity of provision, which could mean different approaches in different areas as well as a wider range of service providers.
Source: Ben Thomson, Geoff Mawdsley and Alison Payne, Power for the Public, Reform Scotland (0131 524 9500)
Links: Report | Reform Scotland press release | FT report
Date: 2008-Apr
A study found that there was an openness among service commissioners in the public sector to work with the third sector, and a recognition that the third sector could add value to commissioning. Yet this had not yet flowed through to consistent, meaningful engagement with the sector in each of the stages of commissioning. There seemed to be a willingness to involve the third sector in principle: but in practice, significant barriers to involvement remained.
Source: Sarah Wood, Evaluation of the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning: Baseline report, Improvement and Development Agency (020 7296 6693)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Mar
A think-tank report said that the public sector expansion which had begun in April 1999 had failed to achieve its stated aims, had restricted economic growth, and had left the United Kingdom ill-placed to face the challenges of the next decade. The government had not done enough to ensure that spending was allocated efficiently, and that benefit was delivered to the consumer instead of being captured by producer interests.
Source: Nick Bosanquet et al., A Lost Decade: Counting the opportunity cost of public spending 1999-2008, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Reform press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Mar
An article reported a quantitative study of 400 third-sector organizations, which cast doubt on the willingness, capability, and capacity of third-sector organizations to engage with the government's contracting agenda for public services.
Source: Tony Chapman, Judith Brown and Robert Crow, 'Entering a brave new world? An assessment of third sector readiness to tender for the delivery of public services in the United Kingdom', Policy Studies, Volume 29 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Mar
A report examined the debate about the future of public service reform in Scotland. It highlighted both the contested and the more consensual areas of reform, and the extent to which Scotland appeared to be diverging from England.
Source: Frauke Sinclair, Directed or Devolved? The future of public service reform in Scotland, Scottish Council Foundation (0131 225 4709)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan
An audit report said that value for money was 'not generally being obtained' when changes were made to private finance initiative contracts.
Source: Making Changes in Operational PFI Projects, HC 205 (Session 2007-08), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | CBI press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jan
An annual survey of social attitudes found that public sector employees were twice as likely as those in the private sector to say that it was very important to them that 'a job was useful to society': 32 per cent compared with 15 per cent.
Source: Peter John and Mark Johnson, 'Is there still a public service ethos?' in Alison Park, John Curtice, Katarina Thomson, Miranda Phillips and Mark Johnson (eds.), British Social Attitudes: The 24th Report, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary | NatCen press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2008-Jan
The Scottish Government published plans for implementing recommendations made in an independent ('Crerar') review of regulation, audit, inspection, and complaints handling of public services in Scotland.
Source: Independent Review of Regulation, Audit, Inspection and Complaints Handling of Public Services: Government Response, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Plan | Review | SG press release
Date: 2008-Jan
A report examined whether human rights could be used empirically as a tool to improve the public's experience of public services. The term 'human rights' had mainly positive associations: but there was little understanding of the application of human rights to public service delivery. Increasing the extent to which key human rights principles were respected and applied in public service delivery could increase user satisfaction.
Source: Human Rights Insight Project, Research Report 1/08, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan
A think-tank report said that the government's strategy for widening the use of information technology in public services delivery played on modern dissatisfaction with anonymous, bureaucratic services. Yet the strategy entailed more central control, less local accountability, and less individual responsibility. Instead of breaking up the 'Whitehall monopolies', it drew more power to the centre.
Source: Jill Kirby, Who Do They Think We Are? Government's hidden agenda to control our lives, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan