Expert interview: thinktank
From Future of Local Services to the Public
This is the summary of an in-depth interview conducted by Ipsos MORI with a researcher, who works for a thinktank in addition to a number of other projects, about the future of local services as part of the LGA/HSC futures project, 2008. As all interviews and workshops for this project were conducted under Chatham House rules, the respondent's identity is not disclosed and some references have been anonymised or omitted to preserve confidentiality.
Contents |
Overview
The interviewee's work and research places a specific focus on service design – looking at ways in which public services such as education and health can be designed from the user outwards. The interview discussed the current context in which local services to the public are provided and the context that this creates for service delivery in the future.
Current challenges for local services
There are three challenges facing local government - limited budgets, pressure of the drive for efficiency and the issue of community empowerment/engagement.
There is still a strong sense of silos between organisations operating at local level. This separation and isolation between organisations can also be seen within organisations as well, not just between. This presents a huge challenge to the practice of partnership working. Within organisations, the clearly demarcated divisions between directorates creates competition for resources and to be heard. Also, the old style linear approach to policy making is still strongly in practice. Changing local government requires challenging this linear, supply and delivery chain approach, in favour of a more circular approach, where feedback from the frontline informs policy development and implementation. This is crucial to tackling new problems such as climate change and is something Kent County Council has been working on.
Key weakness of local government in it's current state is that it doesn't tap into the wealth of experience and expertise at the frontline. This knowledge and insight comes from both users and providers at the frontline. The Kent County Council Social Innovation Lab - set up in response to the steer coming from central government (which is giving mixed messages). The White Paper on empowerment is a positive direction, but;
"The only thing government can do is actually disempower. It can't empower people."
This, along with the general challenges facing local government, has spurred on some, in particular Kent CC, to think about how to approach and meet the pressures and challenges.
The move by the Labour party to become electable, eventually bringing about the New Labour government. Proving their fitness to govern led to a managerial style of government and managing public services, plus the use of Mckinseyesque managerial speak. In the short term this was reassuring but in the long term it was counterproductive. New Labour shifted expectations on public services through their rhetoric, focusing on their aspirations for the country. They didn't, however, admit that they couldn't achieve their aims alone. The current responsibility agenda coming from both main parties is a natural progression of this.
Other future opportunities and challenges
There are three main challenges: Firstly, the problem of limited budgets (especially in areas such as social services). Those in local govenrment know that the limited resources mean in a few years they will be unable to deliver services, and therefore radical change on a large scale is required. This creates a "rabbit in the headlights" effect because the problem is so huge and "difficult to get their heads around". Secondly, the pressure from the drive for greater efficiency - "how do you get the machine to work faster and harder?" Within this is the debate of whether the machine is correct. Can it just be made to work harder or does the machine itself need changing? Thirdly, there is the emphasis on a somewhat vague issue - Community Empowerment or Engagement (or even Co-production). The vaugeness of the title encapsulates the problem with this issue. Some people focus on democratic renewal and how people can better influence decisions. Others see this as being about people having a greater say in designing services. This issue is hindered to "conceptual fuzziness."
Signs of the future... now
Questions for the future?
Budgets - how will they work? Will there be a move to individual budgets, which the user can take and spend on healthcare or social care from a range of providers. Who will be the providers - a range of local community providers or a small group of national monopolies? Councillors - have they improved, what are they like now? Education - how and where are children educated?
Ideally...?
Would like to see big business taking on a greater role in terms of responsibility for the effects it has on society;
"I think it wouldn't hurt to have a few symbolic moments with big business, getting big business to actually recognise that they also shape the world in which we live."
Hopes this will combine with "some big political stuff" - politicians will play a key role in promoting and utilising unpaid work, mainly through the language they use and the context they set discussions about society in.
Key innovators and innovations
- Timebank (TimeBank UK is a national charity providing volunteers with information on voluntary work and volunteering projects in the UK) has done some interesting work on the value of unpaid work and care.
- Also the approach taken by Kent CC and it's pilots on new approaches to policy and service delivery.
