The government has launched a ‘right to choose’ campaign as part of its proposals to open up public services to a wider range of providers. This could also lead to legislation enshrining greater competition.
Updating the Open public services white paper, first launched by Prime Minister David Cameron last July, ministers said they want to raise awareness ‘that citizens themselves have more powers to demand choice and control’.
Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander yesterday confirmed this would include publishing a ‘choice framework’, setting out how individuals would be able to exercise choice in public services. It would also ensure that funding followed users.
The framework will outline the complaints procedures to be followed if choice is not provided, including the role of various public sector ombudsmen. The ombudsmen’s roles may be extended so they can more effectively ‘name and shame’ parts of the public sector not providing competition.
Letwin and Alexander also revealed that legislation could be passed enshrining choice in services, and a consultation has been launched on what this should include.
Further legislation affecting local government could also follow in 2013 if ministers conclude that the Localism Act has not ‘led to a significant shift in power down to neighbourhood level’.
Concerns had been raised that controversy over the government’s health reforms had slowed down choice plans across the public sector, but the ministers insisted that ‘the case for radical reform has become even stronger over the last six months’.
In the executive summary to what will become an annual update on reform, Letwin and Alexander said: ‘As the fiscal pressures intensify, it has also become increasingly evident that we cannot hope to provide the needed improvements in public services by spending yet more money on them.’
They add: ‘The only feasible way of achieving… a step change in public service productivity is to introduce competition, choice and accountability – so that the public services can display the same innovation and entrepreneurial drive that characterise the best of the UK’s economy and society.’
The update highlighted steps government departments have taken to open up public services to greater competition, including the Health and Social Care Act.
There are also plans for more services to be commissioned using payment-by-result contracts, including in drug recovery and supporting vulnerable adults.
The ministers also announced that a new public sector Commissioning Academy would be established to give public sector workers the ‘commercial skills and confidence’ necessary for competition.
‘In a world where more and more public services are commissioned from providers outside the public sector, we need to ensure that employees – and politicians – across central government and the wider public sector are equipped with the skills to engage knowledgeably and confidently with suppliers,’ they stated.
However, the Local Government Association urged the government not to introduce ‘unnecessary red tape’ on councils already working to redesign services.
Chair Sir Merrick Cockell said: ‘As democratically elected representatives of their communities, councils are ideally placed to champion the needs of local people, and make sure they get good quality services that meet their needs. A new range of powers for unelected quangos and ombudsmen must not get in the way of councils’ ability to hold services to account.
‘Town halls are calling on the government to focus on devolving power from Whitehall down to local people and give them genuine control over the services they use.’
