Public Services Research Network

Number 4 June 2013

Introduction Welcome to the fourth bulletin issued by the Public Services Research Network (PSRN). The PSRN has been convened by the TUC to bring together trade unions, academics, researchers and think tanks that have an interest in non-market based approaches to public services and public service reform. As always, we will be happy to promote any work that you have undertaken that relates to the ownership, accountability and delivery of public services and that shares our commitment to opposing austerity, downsizing and marketisation. Austerity and cuts Further to reports from UNISON, the LGA and the NAO referred to in our last bulletin, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has produced more grim evidence of the impact of cuts on local government. The report Department for Communities and Local Government: Financial sustainability of local authorities finds that the combination of spending cuts and changes to local government funding (e.g. business rates) is placing the

greatest burden on those councils most reliant on government funding and that have the highest need. The report concludes that if these trends continue there is a risk that the worst-affected councils will be unable to meet their statutory obligations, and that serious questions will arise about the viability of some councils. Public service reform Making co-production work lessons from local government is a new report from the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) on behalf of the TUC. The report surveys a range of local authorities, looking at the ways in which they are currently working with employees, local communities and service users to design and deliver services that meet community need, while ensuring that services remain universal, accessible and accountable. The report sets out the conditions that enable effective co-production, demonstrating how the public sector can be a driver of innovation, value for money and improving quality. The work of Tony Bovaird and Elke Loeffler is much cited in the APSE report and they have new research published in the International
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Journal of Public Management looking further at what makes collective co-production work in a range of public service areas. The Correlates of Co-production: Evidence from a Five-Nation Survey of Citizens presents data from an original survey of citizens in the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, and the Czech Republic to examine correlates of citizen co-production of public services in three key policy areas: public safety, the environment and health. They look at correlates such as demography, community characteristics, performance perceptions and government outreach and draw key lessons for policy makers in the implementation of collective forms of co-production. Tony writes about some of the findings at the University of Birminghams INLOGLOV Blog. Remaking the State: how should Labour govern? is a collection of essays published by the Fabian Society. It features a number of interesting pieces including A New Vision for Public Services by Frances OGrady, General Secretary of the TUC. The Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) has published a number of useful policy papers looking at the future of the social state. Written by Guardian journalist Zoe Williams Achieving a Social State: what can we learn from Beveridges Giant Evils? re-defines and updates Beveridges giant evils of want, ignorance, squalor, idleness and disease so as to identify new priorities for the welfare state in contemporary Britain. In The Case for Universalism: Assessing the Evidence Mike Danson, Robin McAlpine, Paul Spicker and Willie Sullivan look at social and

economic impact of the increased use of selectivity in the provision of public services and its implications for taxation, redistribution, equality and broader political philosophy. They present a range of evidence that suggests that that universal provision supports wider social and economic equality, provides the most efficient and effective delivery of public goods and supports quality of service, particularly for those most in need. Professor Allyson Pollock and David Price look at how the abolition of the duty of the Secretary of State to provide and secure a comprehensive health service through the Health and Social Care Act has undermined principles of universal health care provision fundamental to the NHS. In Duty to care: In defence of universal health care the authors show how the abolition of the duty transforms the English NHS from a nationally-maintained public service into a number of fragmented and competing services based on commercial contracting and providers with limited accountability. In Beyond Beveridge: a new economics vision for a new social settlement Anna Coote of the new economics foundation (nef) takes a similar approach to Zoe Williams, assessing the policy implications for a social state facing a new set of challenges. The report argues that to develop a new social settlement that is fit for the 21st century, we must combine the strengths of the post war model with new perspectives and priorities. It sets out five goals for a new social settlement and puts forward eight steps that should be taken to make the welfare state more socially just and sustainable.
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Valuing Public Services a new publication from the Office for Public Management sets out a vision of how we value public services, using the word value as an economic measure but also in its ethical dimension. The report makes suggestions for practical ideas for how to measure both aspects, drawing on the OPMs experience in helping public service providers to evaluate and demonstrate their economic and social value to help improve service delivery. As part of the Valuing Public Services project, the OPM are staging a series of seminars. In April, they looked at Making the Public Services (Social Value) Act Come to Life, with representatives from the local statutory and voluntary sector. Chi Hoong Sin blogs about this further on the OPM site. In response to the governments proposals for the restructuring of the probation service, the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) and UNISON have jointly produced their own vision for probation reform in Primary Justice Reloaded: A Model for Localised Probation Services. The report provides an alternative view on how the justice system, and probation in particular, could be operated at a local and accountable level at a time when regionalisation, privatisation and the centralisation of decision making appear to be the dominant driving forces. Outsourcing and Privatisation Elephants Left in the Room is a collection of essays produced by Compass, which aims to address those issues that it believes the centre left find it hard to address. Of particular interest to us is the article Why have people

lost faith in the state and does that mean the market is the answer? Helen Goodman and William Nabarro question how the assumption has taken root that a company (the objective of which is only tangentially related to the optimum provision of a public service and which has to extract profits from the economic equation) should be better at providing that service than the comparable public sector entity. The new economics foundation (nef) has produced a series of timely reports and blogs challenging many of the assumptions informing current government policy. Mythbusters provide briefings on topics including tax havens, government borrowing and the strivers versus skivers argument. We found The Private Sector is More Efficient than the Public Sector to be a particularly useful contribution. David Hall of the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) at the University of Greenwich has provided a revised and updated version of his paper Re-municipalising municipal services in Europe which looks at the growing evidence of the in-sourcing of public services by the public sector in a range of countries including the UK, France, Germany, and Finland. The paper looks at the background, the latest evidence and highlights some of the key issues facing trade unions faced by re-municipalisation. Jane Lethbridge at PSIRU has published two reports on the role of multinational companies in the provision of health and social care services in Europe. Expansion and consolidation? Major trends and eligibility for
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European Works Councils reviews multinational companies involved in healthcare in Europe and finds that companies are moving into different types of healthcare services, with pathology services considered to have the most potential for expansion. Care home versus home care? Which direction for care services in Europe? looks at how care services are evolving in Europe and the strategies of multinational companies operating in this sector. Jane has also produced Why the private sector kills more than it cures Countering arguments in favour of privatisation on behalf of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) challenging arguments in favour of health care privatisation. Tessa Wright of the Centre for Equality and Diversity (CRED) at Queen Mary, University of London has produced a report of a seminar that brought practitioners, academics, policymakers and trade unions together to look at the use of public procurement in support employment equality and diversity. Promoting Employment Equality through Public Procurement sets out the historical and legal context as well as considering some of the policy implications and identifying levers that can be used within the existing public procurement framework. Tessa is keen to develop her email network for those with an interest in linking equalities and procurement issues, please contact Tessa at t.wright@qmul.ac.uk for more information. Public Sector Employment A recording of the TUC seminar Austerity and

the Public Service Workforce Trade Union Strategies is now available on YouTube. This features a presentation on research by Professor Stephen Bach of Kings College, University of London and responses from John Medhurst, Policy Officer at PCS, Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary Unite, Margaret Thomas of Wales TUC and June Chandler, UNISON Health. The TUC also recently held a seminar considering the evidence about the impact of performance-related pay, looking at the governments plans for public sector pay and the effect of performance-related pay in private sector boardrooms. Speakers included Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary, NUT, Janet Williamson of the TUC, Ken Mulkearn, Head of Pay and Research at IDS and Tom Powdrill of the Pensions Investment Research Consultants. Copies of slides from this seminar are available on request from Jennifer Mann at jmann@tuc.org.uk One of the problems arising from performance related pay systems identified at the TUC seminar was the use of bell curves and forced distribution of performance assessment by employers. This forms part of a range of punitive performance management measures identified in a report, Performance Management and the New Workplace Tyranny by Professor Phil Taylor of the University of Strathclyde on behalf of Scottish TUC (STUC). Incomes Data Services (IDS) has produced a report on behalf of UNISON exploring the evidence behind arguments that the public sector enjoys a pay premium. Public Sector Pay Premium Fact or Fiction? cautions against
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assumptions about public and private sector average pay differentials, arguing that average pay in each sector reflects the different mix of jobs and skills. They conclude that there may be a difference in the average for each sector but any difference does not necessarily establish a pay premium. Events As part of their Valuing Public Services project, the OPM will be hosting the following seminar: Title: Empowering the public services workforce to demonstrate their impact and economic value Lessons from the nursing profession Friday 5 July 2013 Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing 20 Cavendish Square London W1G 0RN Caroline Chandler, Lead MS Nurse, Poole Hospital Jill Nicholls, Heart Failure Specialist Nurse, Tayside NHS Janet Davis, Director of Nursing and Service Delivery, RCN Dr Chi Hoong Sin, Principal, OPM Any Bowen, Director, MS Trust Info: info@opm.org.uk

Feedback We would very much welcome feedback from network members as to whether you think our approach to the network is useful and if it adds value to your work. For example, are you happy with this bulletin and what else do you think we may wish to include? Also ideas for themes for further roundtables would be useful. We want to ensure that his network is based on collaboration from all the participant members. Please give feedback to Matt Dykes at mdykes@tuc.org.uk

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