21 April 2006
Ministers, local government employers and trade unions are set to launch a ground-breaking project with the aim of involving public sector staff in the government's reform programme.
Public Finance has learnt that the Public Services Forum, the government-trade union panel set up to improve industrial relations after the 2004 Warwick Accord, will next month launch a website to address workforce issues that have an impact on all areas of the public services.
Officially a partnership between the Cabinet Office and the Trades Union Congress, the 'Drive for Change' project has also been developed following extensive advice from the Local Government Employers (formerly the Employers' Organisation), the Department of Health, Unison and the Prison Service.
At a time when relations between the government and public sector trade unions have soured following a series of limited pay rises, local government pension strikes, disputed equal pay claims and concerns over job cuts, Drive for Change is being viewed by the Cabinet Office as a potential olive branch to prevent new conflicts.
Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, who last year called for improved consultation between ministers and civil servants developing policies and the staff implementing them, has endorsed the project. Other senior civil servants said it could help organisations achieve the improvements in public service delivery sought by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
PF was this week granted access to the site in advance of its launch, which is likely to follow next month's PSF meeting, to be chaired by Cabinet Office minister Jim Murphy.
The site's stated purpose is to 'provide practical support to public service managers, human resources practitioners, trade unions and the workforce by promoting closer dialogue and joint working in taking forward change or the redesign of services'.
It will act as a reference tool for all staff and will offer advice, guidance and exercises that will help officials to identify long-term best practice.
In practical terms, the site could be used to discuss the pros and cons of reform programmes. Privately, some unionists expressed fears that staff feedback would simply be 'acknowledged but ignored'.
Rachael McIlroy, public services officer at the TUC, said that the forum would provide staff with the chance to, where relevant, 'deliver to the government evidence that privatisation plans, for example, are inferior to the services already offered by public sector staff'.
But McIlroy added that unions did not view the forum simply as a method of trying to prevent unpopular government policies. 'It's also about minimising the day-to-day impact of continual changes to public policy,' she said.
'Every reform… means changes to working practices for staff, but this forum will allow us to speak up when we think that good working practices already exist. That could also help to improve efficiency and minimise the costs of reforms.'
Mike Walker, director of negotiations at the Local Government Employers, said: 'Change is constant across the public services and this project also aims to tackle issues like skills shortages in areas affected by reforms.'
The online 'toolkit' has been successfully trialled in four organisations: Birmingham City Council, Holloway Prison, the Cheshire and Wirral Mental Health Trust and Sheffield City Council.
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