First appeared in Public Finance on 1st September 2011.
The Open Public Service white paper is another government step towards decentralised services. But are local residents ready for the responsibility?
Open Public Services – risk or reform?
The Open Public Services White Paper, unveiled last month, gave some additional insight into how the Coalition plans to decentralise public services by handing individuals, communities and ‘hyper’ local government the power to deliver services. One of the Paper’s key elements is to expand choice for the public, and enable an increased number of providers – and people – to play a role in determining how funding is prioritised.
Increased choice is something few individuals would be likely to decline, and there are a number of potential advantages to this kind of decentralisation. But, innovation can be risky and not without expense, especially with regard to public services. The White Paper has already been criticised in some quarters as lacking in detail but it is this detail, and the associated risks, that could mean the difference between success and failure.
A potential benefit to service devolution is the increased flexibility and innovation offered to both the public and providers. However, to ensure this is not counter-productive, there will need to be simple, clear parameters for choice to help individuals prioritise areas of necessity. This is especially important for those service priorities intended to be set by individuals or community groups, who may be inexperienced in directing public funds and large scale decision-making.
Greater choice may result in a greater number of services or services providers, creating an extended supply chain. This will need close management to mitigate potentially damaging issues like ‘mission or cost creep’, or supplier failure – of which there have already been some serious examples. While engaging an increased number of suppliers can ‘spread’ the risk should any encounter problems, it can also create a fragmented, complex web of delivery – making robust governance with clear control systems vital. This should clarify areas of overlapping services, ensure there is no duplication and help establish a clear exit strategy should things go wrong. Such measures are a vital part of risk management and need to be front of mind as the web grows.
With regard to providers, part of this risk management process will be to set service level agreements. And, Government will need to clarify the level of support it is willing to grant struggling organisations, to ensure critical services do not simply stop. Equally, for everyone involved it will be important to clarify routes of responsibility and accountability. In any commissioning or outsourcing arrangement, particularly where there are multiple providers, there needs to be a lead organisation which oversees the effectiveness of an arrangement and any factors that may impact its success.
When it comes to success, clear community-level goals should be set; important not least as the diversity of individual and group priorities could mean that ‘success’ varies across different communities. Here, local authorities may have a role to play in helping communities establish what success looks like for them.
Aside from the opportunities and potential challenges related to increased choice over service provision, it is also important to consider that, for the aims of opening public services to succeed, community engagement will need to reach a new height. Research for our report, Tough Choices, showed that under a third (31%) of us are willing to volunteer to help community organisations deliver local services. This indicates that the majority of people need more encouragement to embrace the opportunity of getting involved with services. To facilitate this, all sectors have a responsibility to remove barriers, educate and inspire people to see the benefits of being part of the services they receive.
Even with increased public interest, there is a question mark over the capacity of communities to ensure services are resourced long-term. While informing and empowering the public is vital, it is important to mitigate any temporary ‘peak’ in community volunteering levels, beyond what that community can realistically sustain.
The road to devolved services will not be smooth and the Government’s White Paper only goes some way to clarifying exactly how that road will look. Yet with the right support and local leadership, there may be a way to involve more providers and people in the decision-making and prioritisation of services.
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