The government published a plan designed to make savings in public services, including more effective use of information technology. It proposed: merging or abolishing arm's-length bodies, integrating back-office functions, and selling off government assets; reducing spending on consultancy by 50 per cent, and on marketing and communications by 25 per cent; investing £30 million over three years to get a further 1 million people online; increasing the number of services available via the internet, including some benefits claims; and 'empowering' citizens by the increasing use of online service delivery and a reduction in face-to-face contact (saving over £600 million).
Source: Putting the Frontline First: Smarter government, Cm 7753, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Plan | Hansard | PM speech | DCLG press release | CBI press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A think-tank report called for a system of 'outcome commissioning' for public services – a system for raising the quality of public services by incentivizing the achievement of outcomes through penalties and rewards. Providers would be free to decide on the processes to use, thereby making space for innovation and personalization. Outcome commissioning offered a way to boost quality without necessarily increasing the funding spent on inputs: in fact, by commissioning for outcomes, governments avoided paying at all for services that did not achieve the desired results.
Source: Lauren Cumming, Alastair Dick, Geoffrey Filkin and Gary Sturgess, Better Outcomes, 2020 Public Services Trust
Links: Report | 2020 press release
Date: 2009-Dec
An article critically examined the suggestion that competition and choice should be the central means of improving public services in England.
Source: Ian Greener and Martin Powell, 'The other Le Grand? Evaluating the "other invisible hand" in welfare services in England', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 43 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
A report examined the use of information technology in government. The 'centre' of government needed more clout to ensure that departments standardized their use and procurement of IT. However, the centre's interventions needed to be selective, allowing departments freedom to innovate and use technology to achieve benefits in their areas, while insisting on standardization where the evidence was compelling.
Source: Michael Hallsworth, Gareth Nellis and Mike Brass, Installing New Drivers: How to improve government's use of IT, Institute for Government
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
A think-tank paper said that by involving individuals and users in the design and delivery of public services through co-production, services could be more effective, efficient, and sustainable.
Source: David Boyle and Michael Harris, The Challenge of Co-Production: How equal partnerships between professionals and the public are crucial to improving public services, New Economics Foundation
Links: Paper
Date: 2009-Dec
The Cabinet Office published its autumn 2009 performance report, showing progress in achieving its public service agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2009, Cm 7763, Cabinet Office/TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
The government announced the creation of an independent 'Commission on Ownership', which would look at how to encourage public service delivery by employee- or community-owned enterprises.
Source: Press release 15 December 2009, Cabinet Office
Links: Cabinet Office press release | Oxford University press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | New Start report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Dec
A trade union report said that in order for Britain to emerge from the economic recession in a strong position for the future, it would be essential to strengthen and sustain core public services. Public services ensured vital investment in infrastructure and support for business, and could mitigate the worst social and economic consequences of the downturn.
Source: Mark Bramah, Andy Mudd, Nicola Carroll and Malcolm Wing, Speaking up for Public Services: The vital role of the public sector in and beyond the recession, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report examined the drivers of innovation in the public sector, the future challenges that would further increase the need for it, and the typologies and opportunities for public service innovation.
Source: Adrian Nolan, Creating Greater Innovation in Public Services: Challenges and opportunities, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (0131 650 9166)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Nov
A think-tank report examined the potential for individuals, local community groups, and social enterprises to work alongside local public agencies to deliver better outcomes.
Source: Vicki Savage with Carmel O'Sullivan, Geoff Mulgan and Rushanara Ali, Public Services and Civil Society Working Together: An initial think piece, Young Foundation (020 8980 6263)
Links: Report | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report called on the third sector and local authorities to take immediate steps to prepare for the 'personalization' of public services – with key budgetary powers passing from state to citizen. It suggested ways in which personalization, already widespread in health and social care, could be successfully rolled out across the whole spectrum of public service delivery, including welfare-to-work, benefits reform, and support for ex-offenders.
Source: Making It Personal: A social market revolution – The Interim Report of the Commission on Personalisation, Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (0845 345 8481)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Nov
A think-tank report said that frontline public servants enjoyed little or no autonomy from central control, resulting in a vicious circle of low morale, falling status, and rising difficulty in attracting the top graduates needed to make public services first class. The government needed to relinquish some of its power to local control, creating instead a public service in which empowered citizens could seek and receive the services they needed from empowered staff.
Source: Jonty Olliff-Cooper and Max Wind-Cowie with Jamie Bartlett, Leading from the Front, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Demos press release | Telegraph report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2009-Sep
An article examined the Scottish Government's approach to the use of private finance in public services. It considered the standard private finance initiative (PFI) model, and the 'non-profit distributing' (NPD) model – a variant of PFI developed in Scotland. Although NPD provided the government with an important political benefit, in being seen to safeguard the 'public interest' while working within United Kingdom-wide budgetary constraints, the decision to continue with private finance carried a high economic cost.
Source: Mark Hellowell and Allyson Pollock, 'Non-profit distribution: the Scottish approach to private finance in public services', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Aug
A new book examined evidence that both front-line staff in public services and the people who used them could sometimes act in ways that modified, disrupted, or negated intended policy outcomes. It discussed the role of public policy in the creation of 'good citizenship', and how theories of 'power' and 'agency' were useful in analyzing the engagement between public policies (and those employed to deliver them) and the citizens at whom they were targeted.
Source: Marian Barnes and David Prior (eds.), Subversive Citizens: Power, agency and resistance in public services, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Jul
A think-tank report said that faith in the ability of the state to govern well had all but disappeared, in line with its increasing activism – new layers of government, new quangos, and new regulatory powers.
Source: Jill Kirby, The Reality Gap: An analysis of the failure of big government, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report presented the findings of a study of public service innovation in other countries. It emphasized that innovation and productivity came from forging stronger relationships with citizens, and that the most successful services had five distinguishing characteristics: using entitlements to put power in the hands of users of services; transforming accountability of services through real time, highly local information; incentivizing the creation of tailor-made, integrated, personalized services that citizens could shape; answering people's ambition for prevention rather than cure; and a new professionalism in front-line staff and leaders, with new organizational structures that encouraged this.
Source: Power in People's Hands: Learning from the world's best public services, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined how to develop better links between Whitehall policy-makers and front-line professionals in order to drive forward public service reform. It called for more engagement with front-line professionals in policy-making.
Source: David Omand, Ken Starkey and Victor Adebowale, Engagement and Aspiration: Reconnecting policy making with front line professionals, Sunningdale Institute/National School of Government (01344 634000)
Links: Report | Sunningdale Institute press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A think-tank report said that the government should abandon expensive and failing centralized information technology projects, and yield control of personal information to individual citizens. The potential benefits included estimated savings on government IT expenditure of 50 per cent; more flexibility; better public services; greater security and privacy over data; and far less intrusion by the state into the everyday lives of its citizens.
Source: Liam Maxwell, It's Ours: Why we, not government, must own our data, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | CPS press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that civil service leaders needed to create opportunities for policy-makers to reconnect to the frontline. This transformation would involve government officials having more appreciation of the public as a resource and not as a problem. Ultimately it was the public's engagement, motivation, and aspirations that would provide the foundations for a more innovative approach to public service.
Source: Su Maddock, Change You Can Believe In: The Leadership of innovation, Sunningdale Institute/National School of Government (01344 634000)
Links: Report | Sunningdale Institute press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that the private sector had an important role to play in the delivery of public services. The gains from outsourcing and PFI partnerships had proved beneficial in some areas, notably construction – although the experience in other sectors, particularly information technology, had been negative. The cost of PFI partnerships seemed roughly equal to traditional public sector procurement, while the former seemed to be far more likely to deliver on time. However, the desire to be profitable could be damaging in some cases, generally in public services where staff were motivated not just by financial reward but also by a desire to serve the greater public good.
Source: Paul Grout, Private Delivery of Public Services, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Report | Bristol University press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that a fresh approach to public sector leadership was vital if the Scottish Government's vision of a more successful country were to be realized. It identified a trend of 'celebrity leadership', in which leaders were credited with having all the answers and were rewarded as a result. Instead, Scotland's public sector leaders needed to throw their weight behind collaborative efforts in response to social issues.
Source: Keith Grint et al., Leadership in the Public Sector in Scotland, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A manifesto set out a series of ideas for improving openness and transparency in public services, improving decision-making, providing better information to the public, and strengthening accountability.
Source: The CIPFA Manifesto: Better Ideas, Better Public Services, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (020 7543 5602)
Links: Manifesto | CIPFA press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The government published a plan for Britain's future, describing it as 'a radical vision for a fairer, stronger and more prosperous society'. The plan incorporated a consultation on the government's legislative programme for 2009-10 in draft, in advance of the Queen's Speech. Public service entitlements in a range of areas would for the first time be guaranteed. Patients would get enforceable entitlements to the highest standards of healthcare, including hospital treatment within 18 weeks, access to a cancer specialist within 2 weeks and free health checks under the National Health Service for people aged 40-74; parents would be guaranteed an education individually tailored to their child, including a personal tutor for every pupil at secondary school, with catch-up and one-to-one tuition for all those who needed it; and local people would get more power to keep their neighbourhoods safe, including the right to hold the police to account at monthly 'beat meetings'. The new entitlements would replace centrally determined performance targets in a number of areas.
Source: Building Britain's Future, Cm 7654, Prime Minister's Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | TUC press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
A trade union report said that the government's decision to inject an extra £2 billion of taxpayers' money into private finance initiative (PFI) projects was 'throwing good money after bad.' Private sector involvement was supposed to give public building programmes more rigour and strength: but in reality it had exposed them to greater hazards and weaknesses. The report called for all new planned PFI projects to be replaced with publicly funded design-and-build schemes.
Source: Reclaiming the Initiative: Putting the public back into PFI, Unison (0845 355 0845)
Links: Unison press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jun
A think-tank report examined ways in which the reform of public services could be driven by greater involvement of public sector staff and their trade unions in decision-making.
Source: Hilary Wainwright with Mathew Little, Public Service Reform.. But Not As We Know It! A story of how democracy can make public services genuinely efficient, Compass (020 7463 0633)
Links: Report | Compass press release
Date: 2009-May
A think-tank report examined the challenges and opportunities facing social enterprises. Social enterprises could offer a different approach and ethos to that of the profit-driven private sector and the 'one-size-fits-all' public sector. However, the sector was still small and faced capacity and capability constraints.
Source: Paul Hunter (ed.), Social Enterprise for Public Service: How does the third sector deliver?, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-May
The government announced that it was creating a new 'Innovators Council', made up of creative thinkers from public services, charities, and businesses, in order to help drive public service reform. The Council would fast-track ideas generated by frontline staff and citizens to deliver better and more efficient services.
Source: Press release 18 May 2009, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-May
A new book examined established assumptions surrounding citizenship and consumption. Drawing on empirical research, it challenged existing stereotypes about the 'consumer as chooser', and emphasized the need for a more sophisticated understanding of consumers as users of public services.
Source: Richard Simmons, Martin Powell and Ian Greener (eds.), The Consumer in Public Services: Choice, values and difference, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500) Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Apr
An article examined, from a third sector perspective, the increasing requirement for public agencies to collaborate with non-state providers in the delivery of welfare services. There had been some progress in supporting community services in deprived areas: but the continuing emphasis on competitive contracts and centrally driven frameworks undermined collaborative work and community trust. Such mechanisms might serve short-term state interests, but they devalued the very community-level work that was being promoted to address challenging social problems.
Source: Linda Milbourne, 'Remodelling the third sector: advancing collaboration or competition in community-based initiatives?', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 38 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
The Welsh Assembly Government responded to a report by an Assembly Committee on public-private partnerships.
Source: Written Response to the Finance Committee's Report on the Inquiry Into Public Private Partnerships, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Date: 2009-Apr
A think-tank report said that decisions on public services across health, leisure, transport, and the local environment should be handed down to individuals and communities. The traditional centralized provision of services often disregarded the specific needs of individuals, led to massive wastage, and failed to meet the rising expectations of citizens.
Source: Nigel Keohane, People Power: How can we personalise public services?, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Summary | RSN Online report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report said that future demands on public services would be so great that unless radical new approaches were taken to the provision of public services, the cost of coping with major economic and social challenges would reach £500 billion by 2025. The demands included an ageing society, an increase in long-term health conditions, obesity, and the impact of climate change.
Source: Michael Harris and David Albury, The Innovation Imperative: Why radical innovation is needed to reinvent public services for the recession and beyond, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (020 7438 2500)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales said that more use should be made of public-private partnerships to deliver public services in Wales.
Source: Inquiry into Public Private Partnerships: Concluding Statement and Recommendations, Finance Committee/National Assembly for Wales (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | NAW press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
The government set out its vision for the future shape of public services. It said that the pace of reform would be accelerated, so that services were more accessible and became more personalized to the needs of people using them. People would be given new opportunities to give online comment on, and share information, about all health services in their area – including direct feedback to all family doctor surgeries. A commission on the future of nursing and midwifery would examine ways of freeing up nurses and midwives to lead improvements on the frontline. The government would seek to develop a new fast-track route for talented career switchers and graduates moving into teaching – taking 6 rather than the existing 12 months to complete their training. Jobcentre Plus advisers would be given greater discretion to personalize support for claimants. Local government would be given greater freedom to join up and tailor services and economic strategies across local areas.
Source: Working Together: Public Services On Your Side, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release | Downing Street press release | DH press release | NUT press release | Voice press release | ATL press release | RCN press release | BMA press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | New Start report | Pulse report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Telegraph report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Mar
A think-tank report highlighted the challenge for policy-makers and public service professionals in a society of 'assertive citizens'. Public service users were more aware of their rights than previously, expected a better service, and deferred less to established sources of advice such as professional opinion. This created profound challenges for the relationships between the users of services – pupils, students, patients – and providers, such as doctors and teachers.
Source: Simon Griffiths, Beth Foley and Jessica Prendergrast, Assertive Citizens: New relationships in the public services, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report | Summary | SMF press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A think-tank report examined how spending on public services could be directed to achieve the best return for communities, the environment, and the public purse. It recommended creating an incentive and funding structure that encouraged performance across a range of outcomes and over the longer term – rather than narrow 'value for money' criteria.
Source: Eva Nietzert and Josh Ryan-Collins, A Better Return: Setting the foundations for intelligent commissioning to achieve value for money, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: NEF press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A report examined how local authorities were returning services that had previously been externalized to private sector contractors to delivery by directly employed teams. 'Insourcing' would became an increasingly attractive option for local authorities during the economic recession.
Source: Insourcing: A guide to bringing local authority services back in-house, Association for Public Service Excellence (0161 772 1810)
Links: APSE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
A survey found considerable public support for choice when accessing public services: but also little enthusiasm for private companies or even charities running state schools or hospitals.
Source: John Curtice and Oliver Heath, 'Do people want choice and diversity of provision in public services?', in Alison Park, John Curtice, Katarina Thomson, Miranda Phillips and Elizabeth Clery (eds.), British Social Attitudes: The 25th Report, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary | NatCen press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jan
A new book said that social and welfare provision based on competition, markets, and consumer choice had achieved considerable success in delivering mass services efficiently: but it was much less successful in redistributing to more vulnerable low-income groups, and in maintaining public trust in the structure of provision.
Source: Peter Taylor-Gooby, Reframing Social Citizenship, Oxford University Press (01536 741727)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Jan
An audit report said that, with better planning and management, the public sector could get better value for money from the £114 million spent by Scotland's central government bodies each year on consultancy services.
Source: Central Government's Use of Consultancy Services: How government works, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General (0131 477 1234)
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jan
A think-tank report said that many middle-income families received almost exactly the same amount in benefits and public services as they paid in taxes. Instead of taking away with one hand and giving back with another, the government should let people keep their 'hard-earned' income and make their own arrangements with their own money.
Source: David Green, Individualists Who Co-operate: Education and welfare reform befitting a free people, Civitas (020 7401 5470)
Links: Civitas press release
Date: 2009-Jan
An article examined how choice policies had positioned users since the creation of the modern welfare state, and how they had differed between housing, education, and healthcare. It suggested that although approaches to choice varied considerably between the three public services examined, policy-makers often appeared unaware of these differences – leading to mistaken assumptions that policies could be transferred or transplanted unproblematically.
Source: Ian Greener and Martin Powell, 'The evolution of choice policies in UK housing, education and health policy', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 38 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jan