A think-tank report called for the remaining inspection regimes in local government in England to be slimmed down, and for local citizens to play a greater role in driving up standards. It also called for greater responsibility for local government in improving its own performance.
Source: Olivier Roth, Through the Looking Glass: Putting citizens at the heart of the assessment process, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | New Start report
Date: 2010-Jul
A think-tank report said that public services should be designed and delivered in ways that encouraged citizens to take greater ownership of their services. This would improve productivity, by mobilizing social resources at a time when financial resources would be tightly stretched, and contribute to a switch in focus from service outputs to social outcomes.
Source: 2020 Vision: A far-sighted approach to transforming public services, 2020 Public Services Trust
Links: Report | 2020 press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A study examined how service users could be involved in shaping local care services. It found that the involvement of service users was still in its infancy; that the definition of 'user involvement' varied from one-off consultations to equal partnerships; and that there were more good practice examples of user involvement in social care than in health.
Source: Silvia Schehrer and Stephanie Sexton, Involving Users in Commissioning Local Services, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-May
A think-tank report examined the ways in which people were working in partnership with the public sector to design and deliver their public services – including parents involved in childcare co-operatives, students in schools setting up their own activities and programmes, and community justice boards. 'People-powered' public services could generate savings of up to six times the investment made in them.
Source: David Boyle, Julia Slay and Lucie Stephens, Public Services Inside Out: Putting co-production into practice, New Economics Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | NEF press release
Date: 2010-Apr
An article examined the processes necessary to promote – and institutionally embed – participation by those typically excluded from user participation in developing social care services and policies.
Source: Louisa Hernandez, Paul Robson and Alice Sampson, 'Towards integrated participation: involving seldom heard users of social care services', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 40 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Apr
A report examined the implications of internet communication technologies for the accountability of public services.
Source: Adam Pickering, Cannot Find Server: Reconnecting public accountability, Centre for Public Scrutiny
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report examined the role that citizens and communities could play in directly producing public services.
Source: Capable Communities, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | IPPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb