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Open Public Services
David Cameron said he wanted to “put people in charge” as he revealed his plan for public services in England today. At a speech in London, the prime minister said public services were the “backbone” of the country but the results were often not good enough.
He wants the planned changes to give people “more freedom, more choice and more local control” in schools, health and other services. The Public Services White Paper was supposed to be unveiled in January but was delayed due to disagreements over the contents in Whitehall.
The proposals would allow service providers to make profits in some areas like getting people off benefits and into work, but not in others such as health care. Only two areas, national security and the judiciary, would be exempt
Ah yes, how about getting some local people elected to a committee to take control of local services. They would have to be elected by all the other local people though, otherwise they would be unrepresentative. They would need some sort of building too, as`they would need to meet to make their decisions. Maybe they could be called ‘local councils’ and meet in ‘town halls’. What a great idea!
A £10million fund is being made available to charities and social enterprises to help them develop the skills and infrastructure to win more capital investment and public service contracts Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, has announced.
The Investment and Contract Readiness Fund is aiming to enable charities, social enterprises and other civil society organisations to play a bigger role in public service delivery. The Minister outlined plans in an open letter to the sector. As well as new opportunities to earn income from public service contracts, civil society organisations will also have access to capital investment when the Big Society Bank opens.
Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, said:
‘We are creating new opportunities potentially worth billions of pounds for charities and social enterprises. By enabling all sectors to compete for contracts on a level playing field citizens and communities will benefit from greater choice and more responsive services.
The £10million Investment and Contract Readiness Fund will create a pipeline of civil society organisations ready to grasp new opportunities. They will break down barriers and build expertise in the sector so that it can become a mainstream option for public service delivery. And as the Big Society Bank capitalises the social investment market finance to grow organisations will becoming increasingly available.’
Have come across a useful briefing on the Open Public Services white paper on the Directory for Social Change website.
If you deliver ‘public services’ or have a funding relationship with government, the ideas described in the Open Public Services white paper are likely to impact your organisation in the future. Over a number of years we’ve observed how many big policy initiatives have come to be implemented in real world – with the final outcome usually some way off the original intention (even when the original intention is good and sensible). So this vision of what the future might hold is in the vein of ‘hope for the best but prepare for the worst’ and ‘forewarned is forearmed’