25 June 2004
Communities may take it on themselves to choose which providers clean their streets or empty their bins under a vision of public service delivery set out by the local government minister this week.
Contributing to a think-tank pamphlet on choice, Nick Raynsford said: 'A framework under which local residents might determine whether or not to "trigger" a process of tendering for a particular service or might opt for a neighbouring local authority as a preferred provider could be a powerful incentive to drive service improvement.'
In an essay for the New Local Government Network's publication Choice cuts, the minister again asserted that choice is here to stay and those who seek to resist it have 'no more prospect of success than King Canute'. 'The tide cannot be halted', he said.
As the architect of choice-based lettings, Raynsford observed that the idea met with suspicion and doubt when it was first floated in 1999. But he said it was 'counter-intuitive' to suggest that people cannot exercise the same degree of choice over their public services that they do over other areas of their life.
Choice also has the potential to be a driver of public sector efficiency, which is likely to offset costs incurred by the need for extra capacity as well as improving standards. 'The key issue is for the service to be driven by a user not a provider perspective,' Raynsford said.
In a further contribution to the pamphlet, Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said the regulator could help move the choice agenda forward by providing users of public services with the information they require to make informed decisions.
'We are devising improved measures of the value for money provided by local government, so that performance can more readily be compared across councils that have legitimately exercised different choices about where to strike the balance between the interests of services users and those of taxpayers,' he said.
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