The Government today invited experts, public service managers and providers of public services to submit their ideas for public service reform.
Their views will help shape the Government’s Public Service Reform White Paper, announced in the Spending Review, which will be published next year.
The Government wants to reform public services by shifting power away from central government to the local level – to citizens, communities, and independent providers, so that they can play a greater role in shaping services.
The Government particularly wants views on how to drive reform further in the following ways:
- Extending innovative payment and funding mechanisms, such as personal budgets and payment-by-results commissioning in more areas
- Developing new rights for communities and public employees to buy and run services
- Setting proportions of certain services that should be provided independently
- Bringing external investment and expertise into service reform
- Increasing democratic accountability at a local level
The Government also seeks comments on how best to ensure that continuity of service is maintained in any public service that is provided by voluntary, community or business groups.
The Government particularly wants to receive specific examples on how these reforms could be successfully implemented from the following groups:
- Public services industry
- Voluntary and community organisations
- Independent providers of public services
- Managers of public services
- Think tanks and research bodies
- Service users with views to share
Respondents can submit their views from Friday 26 November 2010 until Wednesday 05 January 2011. More information can be found on the Treasury website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_publicservice_reform.htm
The Public Service Reform White Paper will also be informed by the Commissioning Green Paper to be published by the Cabinet Office shortly. This will aim to create a level playing field for charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises that wish to bid for public service contracts.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2010/101126-publi...
PDF version
Open date: 26 November 2010
Closing date: 5 January 2011
The Spending Review set out the Government’s ambitions for the future of public services, focused on shifting power away from central government to the local level – to citizens, communities, and independent providers, so they can play a greater role in shaping services. These principles help build a society where everyone plays their part – the Big Society.
Building on major reforms in schools, the NHS, welfare and justice, the Spending Review announced that the Government will develop further policies that shift power to the users of public services and support the judgement of public sector professionals. These plans will also allow greater diversity of service provision and introduce new forms of accountability so that underperformance is no longer tolerated.
The Government particularly wants to explore how the following could drive reform further in a range of service areas:
The Government is committed to improving and transforming core public services. Your views and advice will help the Government to learn lessons from the past and inform future policies.
Contribute your views
The Government invites anyone with an interest, particularly frontline staff, managers and independent providers of public services, think tanks and users of services to share their views and insights on how these reforms could be successfully implemented. The invitation is available below in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
Modernising Commissioning Green Paper
If you have more detailed views on commissioning and procurement of services, please be aware that there is a specific consultation due to be launched shortly the Cabinet Office Cabinet Office website (opens in a new browser window). This Green Paper focuses exclusively on increasing the role of charities, social enterprises, mutuals and cooperatives (civil society organisations) in public service delivery. You may prefer to submit additional evidence and views through this route instead.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_publicservice_reform.htm