When New Labour came to power all those years ago, it was regularly lampooned for the way it ‘hit the ground reviewing’. All manner of controversial issues were kicked into the long grass via reviews overseen by the great and good.
Our young coalition masters have taken a somewhat different approach. Fewer than 100 days in power and we’ve already seen the creation of an independent Office for Budget Responsibility and a plethora of radical policy announcements covering welfare (see Back to work), education and health.
There are, of course, understandable reasons for this. We have a huge deficit and Something Has To Be Done.
However, there is a danger in trying to do too much too soon. The creation of the OBR is a case in point. A good idea in principle, the new body has already been wounded by accusations of political bias and is now having to decamp from the Treasury.
Similarly, Education Secretary Michael Gove’s botched announcements on the schools rebuilding scheme show a politician keen to make his mark. Unfortunately, on the evidence so far, it will be a C–.
Gove will have to do a better job on his homework when he introduces ‘free schools’ – established by parents and outside of local government control. Apparently, bureaucracy and red tape will be swept away, enabling new schools to blossom. We shall see.
Freedom is also in demand over at the Department of Health, where Andrew Lansley’s white paper, subtitled Liberating the NHS, was published this week. He plans to abolish strategic health authorities and primary care trusts, and to transfer commissioning responsibility to consortiums of GPs. It’s a bold plan, but not free from risk.
Where’s the evidence that GP commissioning will work, you might ask. It’s been tried on a smaller scale before and found wanting. And, as the new head of the King’s Fund tells PF (see Systems man), there could be conflicts of interest affecting patients.
Clearly, big decisions have to be made and implemented quickly. But huge changes to structures need advance consultation, effective piloting and an evidence base.
It’s easy for the prime minister to claim that he is ‘abolishing bureaucracy’, as he did at PMQs this week, but much harder to do. Hospitals and schools are complicated public services and the coalition’s plans throw up innumerable concerns over whether they will be effectively managed.
Let’s hope that freedom doesn’t descend into chaos.
Mike Thatcher is the editor of Public Finance
