Over at the most excellent Policy Progress, David Choat has had a look at the latest publication from the Institute of Policy Studies entitled the Future State. One of the things about being an MP is never get enough time to read, and I have now had three goes at reading this working paper, and I am almost all the way though it!
Like David I think it is an interesting piece of work, that explores in some depth the issues that are ahead in terms of the future of the state sector. There are significant challenges as the report notes in managing affordability, “messy” multi-faceted problems and a diverse population. They fall on the side of a more connected, outcome focused public service, which as David is kind enough to point out, I and others have also been advocating for some time.
The report usefully shows some graphs that, as previously pointed out on this blog, that the public sector as a percentage of the overall labour force has remained relatively consistent over the last 15 years or so.
One very interesting line in the report when discussing how to meet the emerging challenges outlined above is
A focus on the bottom-line alone will not generate the step-changes required in response to the challenges discussed above.
Therein lies the heart of my concerns with the approach of the current government. We all want more efficient services and where there is the opportunity to make savings without detrimentally affecting those services we should do it. But there is far more to providing a modern public service than that. We need to make the changes, (legislative, policy and in working culture) that will see the public service be more integrated and more connected to the community. If a government is only obsessed with showing off how many jobs it has cut, and how much money it can re-direct from public services to tax cuts for the few, it will not be able to create the public service we need.
In any case if you are interested in the future of state services I highly recommend a read of the working paper.
Agreed
Over at the most excellent Policy Progress…
I agree Grant. Policy Progress is an excellent site – buckets of links and information for digestion. It challenges its readers to think about the core concepts behind progressive policies. I’ve found the posts there always interesting, never flippant.
The site isn’t for discussing current political events, or debating the merits of this politician or that politician. Plenty of other websites out there for that. But the aqdministrator will discuss anything to do with the post.