Editor: Sue GossPart of the new government agenda is a changed relationship between the state and citizens – making government more accountable to local people. The most important contact that the average citizen has with government is through the staff of public organizations, so that changing the relationship inevitably means changing the roles and behaviours of these public organizations. In a climate where the role and purpose of local councils are changing, many local government managers are experiencing uncertainty and the pressures of overwork. The book focuses on the everyday problems they face and the practical details they need to be effective in their work. It sets out the case for a radical change in the ways that local authorities engage with local communities.
For those not able to get along to the Queen Elizabeth II conference center in London on 26 September to take part in the E-champion conference, all is not lost. They can log in to a webcast and see and hear how e-government is transforming public sector organisations, employment and social inclusion from an international perspective. The first annual conference and exhibition of the e-champions network which brought together councillors and senior council officers responsible for implementing local e-government was addressed by delegates from Italy, Portugal and Ireland.UKCouncil cameras covered the one-day event and made the proceedings available for all to view on the Internet 24 hours later. The conference can be viewed on the Improvement and Development Agency website http://www.idea.gov.uk/events/e-champions UKCouncil is a leading provider of webcasting services to the public sector.
A new group has been set up within the Cabinet Office to steer Civil Service reform. When the Modernising Government White Paper was published in 1999 the task of driving through the changes was given to the Civil Service Management Board, which is made up of the heads of departments. With the arrival of Sir Andrew Turnbull to head the Civil Service, a new look has been taken at the reform programme and how it is to be managed. On his arrival in his new post he said: “Accelerating change in the Civil Service will be my priority over the next three years. We all want to deliver better services to the public”.The Reform Strategy Group will be responsible for defining the overall Civil Service reform strategy and developing the Departmental Change Programme. A top priority of the Group will getting the reform message through to all parts of the Civil Service.
By Sarah del Tufo and Lucy Gaster People experiencing poverty do not influence decision-making and policy. Six grassroots people with direct experience of poverty, and six people in public life were brought together to form the Commission and find out why. The result was a different kind of report, rooted in real experience and in ‘street language’, through a different kind of commission process.
The King’s Fund in a new report ‘Changing Relationships’ calls for a shift in the way in which health professionals and patients interact. The report is based on the Patient Involvement Project, that set out to assess changing relationships between health professionals and patients/clients in a changing health environment.The study found that progress towards patient empowerment, increased patient choice and patient-centred service was not well advanced. Whilst there was evidence of enthusiasm, self-reflection, and innovation among some, there was also a degree of intransigence among other respondents. Change will be difficult without adequate funding and staffing levels. A climate of low morale is also hampering progress. A patient-centred approach will be more difficult to achieve where there is social exclusion.
Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in a vigorous defence of the public finance initiative insists that the new hospitals and schools being built under PFI are being delivered on time and within budget. He said he will not allow unions to have a veto on reform and even more must be done to encourage private sector involvement in the provision of public services.He argued that PFI has delivered on time and within budget, something that public sector-led investment projects seldom managed to achieve. There are more than 400 PFI contracts, worth more than 100 billion pounds in force or in the pipeline.This defence of PFI follows an attack on union objections from the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. The unions are accused of putting at risk the benefits to patients, passengers, and school students by calling for a moratorium on the private finance initiative. It was made clear that there would be no backing down and no moratorium.
The report by The Foundation for Information Technology in Local Government (FITLOG) explores the question: Can electronic procurement help local authorities to get better prices for the goods and services they buy, as well as saving administration costs and improving management information? It provides senior decision-makers with an independent view of the potential of e-procurement approaches in local government, as well as the policy and management challenges they offer. The topics examined in the guide include: the benefits of using technology, e-procurement models and the key policy and practical issues for councils.Published by FITLOG. Fax order line 0117-975-7965. The report costs 45 pounds for non-commercial organisations and 90 pounds for commercial organization
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Doctor in training are being given smart cards to streamline the administrative process when they move the next post. The cards will radically reduce the time taken to carry out initial checks on doctors, make the process more reliable and reduce costs.The smart cards, which include a photograph of the holder, record pre-employment check data such as the results of police checks, General Medical Council registration numbers, contractual details, together with occupational health and immunisation records. Card holders can request a paper print-out of the data on their card for validation or for updating. Data will be transferred at regular intervals to a central database to provide a secure back-up. If a card is lost or stolen a new card can be reissued using the stored current data.
Quality of life indicators devised by the Audit Commission have been successfully piloted by local councils to measure the effectiveness of their community strategies and help in developing local strategic partnerships. The success of the pilot is likely to lead to public service wide adoption of the indicators which are set to become powerful levers of policy.The 32 cross-cutting indicators cover social, economic and environmental issues and they have been piloted by 90 councils. The indicators cover a broader area than council responsibilities and they were devised to reflect the wider role of councils to promote the social, economic and environmental well-being of their area, and their new duty to work with partners to prepare a community strategy. They paint a picture of the quality of life in the local area and challenge all partners locally to address the issues within their community strategies.
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J.A. ChandlerIn 1991 eight polytechnics offered a BA in public administration while five universities provided the degree with either public or social policy. Currently, no higher education institution in Britain offers a BA degree solely entitled ‘public administration’. The subject area is, however, offered in 16 higher education institutions under a variety of names that include the words ‘public’, ‘management’, ‘policy’ and ‘administration’. This paper analyses the reasons for the transformation during the 1990s in undergraduate courses for the public sector. It is argued that these changes do not so much derive from academics, employers or students taking on board an enthusiasm for new public management but are as much the consequences of deregulation of student choice and an expansion in student numbers that has not been matched in financial terms. The consequence has been to increasingly move this sector towards business and management teaching geared to private sector interests and away from its more political and social science roots.
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