The Public Service Reform White Paper will be the motor driving the government's vision for the Big Society, says Matthew George. He warns that despite ministers' high ambitions, they will face opposition from vested interests who will fight the proposals every inch of the way

All eyes have, of late, been on the government's Health and Social Care Bill – published in January amid huge controversy. But the more profound indicator of David Cameron's self-confessed "passion" for public services reform – and the underlying basis of the Big Society, the Prime Minister's touchstone idea – is imminent, with much less fanfare.

The Public Service Reform White Paper, expected within weeks, will be the motor of the government's highly ambitious plans for social action. As the coalition document put it last May: "The government believes that the innovation and enthusiasm of civil society is essential in tackling the social, economic and political challenges that the UK faces today.

"We will take action to support and encourage social responsibility, volun-teering and philanthropy – and make it easier for people to come together to improve their communities and help one another."

This agenda includes creating and expanding mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises and giving them more involvement in running public services as well as a new right for public servants to bid to take over the running of their own organisations.

The white paper will flesh out the proposals, with Cabinet Office sources stressing it will build on and complement the major reforms in the NHS, schools, welfare and justice. It will discuss how best to promote independent provision and attract internal investment and expertise – to deliver more efficiency and value for money.

And the document will put meat on the bones of the plan to give com-munities and public employees the right to own and run public services. We can expect the extension of new payment and funding mechanisms – including personal budgets and payment-by-results commissioning – in expanded policy areas. And the whole agenda will be underpinned by efforts to increase democratic accountability at a local level. High ambition indeed.

Ministers, led by Cabinet Office duo Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin – the intellectual powerhouses behind so much of the coalition's blue-sky thinking – are also discussing quotas for the proportion of public services to be provided independently, as a means of increasing diversity of provision.

They accept this cannot be divorced from the deficit reduction plan that is the overriding priority. As a result, the white paper will explain, in detail, how public service outcomes and value for money can be improved by capital and expertise from outside government.

Or as HM Treasury puts it, the "state should no longer be the default provider of public services". Instead, "new providers" are seen as the saviour in austere times. Letwin says his ultimate aim is to remove the micro-management that plagued public services under the Labour government. He insists: "We are now entering a new and very exciting age, the post- bureaucratic age."

Cameron himself says cutting the deficit is his "duty" but reforming public services is his "passion". The Prime Minister, though, prefers to use softer descriptive language such as "modernisation" rather than reform or reorganisation. This creates a platform whereby the "heir to Blair" can damn his critics as reactionaries.

He claims that "in too many instances, people are asked to settle for second best" over public services. Cameron points to the fact that Blair accepts, in hindsight, that he should have gone further and faster in promoting choice and competition.

"This is a complete change in the way our public services are run – for the first time, you will call the shots and public services will really respond to what you need," says Cameron to citizens, communities and public servants alike.

This brave new world is intrinsically linked to the Modernising Commissioning Green Paper. Explaining the document, civil society minister Nick Hurd says: "This is part of a Big Society approach that will form the core of the public service reform white paper."

It also outlines how the government can create a level playing field for charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises bidding for public service contracts – covering some of the same ground, such as payment by-results and quotas. The green paper provides a considered approach to making existing public service markets more accessible to civil society organisations, while cutting red tape by streamlining procurement, and inserting social and environmental priorities of local people into the commissioning process.

Predictably, this sea change has met with mixed reaction. The new CBI director-general John Cridland positively urges Cameron to "keep his foot on the gas of public service reform because this is crucial to tackling the deficit". In contrast, Unite complain about the white paper consultation period – just six weeks taking into account the Christmas holidays – and suggest it breaches the 12-week code of practice. The trade union sees this tactic as evidence that the reforms are "being rushed through before the public wakes up" to a "recipe for dismantling the welfare state".

The drive to increase independent provision of public services is not based on evidence and will actually transfer power away from democratic bodies such as local authorities to unaccountable businesses and organisations, Unite argues. Assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail says: "Francis Maude needs to provide clear and well-thought-out evidence, or risk opening up an Aladdin's cave for profiteering private companies to take over public services."

Meanwhile, the British Medical Association says it is not aware of any evidence that significant numbers of NHS staff wish to work in social enterprises. And it warns that forcing workers to do so is unlikely to be productive. The BMA insists it will be watching the impact on pensions and staff terms and conditions very closely.

It will not be alone in scrutinising the reforms. As progressive as the white paper potentially is, some vested interests and concerned public servants will want to fight it every inch of the way.

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