Transcript Work on the shape of public services in 2020

Work on the shape of
public services in 2020
Andy Holder
public sector consultant
ahaconsultancy.co.uk
We have to rethink because…
1.
What remains after the 2010/14 public expenditure cuts will be
different ( whether led well or badly)
2.
Our UK Central (coalition) Government is pushing towards the
Big Society – more self and mutual responsibility
3.
The 2020 Public Service Commission - From social security to
social productivity – suggest things should move from
dependency on the state to much greater individual and mutual
dependency
4.
Rights and responsibilities are being questioned and the
principles of the Enlightenment need re-inventing for today –
individual freedoms, universal rights and humanistic ends
Society – all suggest a smaller State but will there
be a satisfactory re-balancing to fill the gaps?
a) Current balance
Individual, family
and community
b) Future balance
Social
institutions
Government
local and central
Private
sector
Individual, family
and community
Government
local and central
Social
institutions
Private
sector
The Big Society - we do more for
ourselves and one another
‘The size, scope and role of Government in Britain has reached a point where it
is inhibiting, not advancing, the progressive aims of …increasing general
well-being.
…there is a paradox that the growth of the state has promoted not social
solidarity but selfishness and individualism…
…social entrepreneurs and community activists already exists…
…big society also needs the engagement of those who have no record or
desire of getting involved..
…we will (then) have a national life expanded with meaning, mutual
responsibility …and courtesy we show to one another’
D. Cameron
Big society in practice
It will mean
1. the State ( central and local) doing less but enabling the big society

allowing public servants to run their own organisations (as mutuals),

require transparency of information to foster value for money,

enabling service access to shift

doing less service delivery ( whether others do it or not)
2. social and private institutions doing more

as social enterprises running theatres

community trusts running libraries

a variety of joint venture bodies filling ‘gaps’
3. individuals taking more responsibility for themselves and others

accessing information, running their own social care budgets and taking
action to meet their own needs

Responding to other peoples needs e.g. volunteering and giving to charity
2020 Public Services



Discontinuity from our welfare assumptions of the last 60
years – we call the Beveridge principles of social security
and health which tackle the ‘5 giants’ - squalor,
ignorance, want, idleness and disease?
But discovering with an ageing society, child poverty,
rising inequality many social outcomes are not improving
after considerable expenditure and now drastically
reduced over next 10 years
All after a time when productivity in public sector fell (9708)
2020 study suggest three shifts to move
from social security to social productivity
1.
2.
3.
Shift in culture
Shift in power
Shift in finance
For detailed documents see www.2020pst.org
Shift in culture – social security to social
productivity
The state, markets or society cannot meet the gap. So
government, local and central, through participation
and joint-creation will:
 Engage people as citizens
 Facilitate rather than prescribe
 Create value together
 Mobilise the hidden wealth of social resources
 Invest for efficiency and fairness
Shift in power
Shaped around people and the places they live in. This
starts with
 Focus on people and places not service silos
 Democratised decision making and service
commissioning become the norm
 A negotiated autonomy with local government with
central government becoming more strategic
Shift in finances
Meet the dissatisfaction with how money is raised and
spent, ensuring:
 Greater transparency
 Improved allocative efficiency with a focus on outcomes
 Partnership models of financing are applied more
frequently and systematically
 New financial instruments provide sources of money and
increased effectiveness
Overall a negotiated autonomy and the
social citizen
Key features:
 Engages people as service users and citizens with rights
and responsibilities
 Democratically led and responsive locally
 Clear focus and effectiveness for the local place
 Allows local solutions and testing
 Reduces duplication
 Encourages a dynamic and responsive society
An end-piece – the recovery of
Enlightenment principles



individual freedoms – everyone should be free to make choices
which are free of overbearing religious and political authority – but
we need to be aware of human frailty
universal rights – that all people are deserving of dignity and
shared fundamental rights – but pay more attention to empathy
humanistic ends – we organise our world according to what is best
for human beings – but we ask what progress is worthwhile and
consider the ethics of the situation
Mathew Taylor 21st Century Enlightenment, Royal Society of Arts