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Transforming Public Services

TRANSFORMING PUBLIC SERVICES: THE NEXT PHASE OF REFORM

The UNISON Scotland Response

September 2006

Executive Summary

  • UNISON Scotland believes that the principles of Democracy, Investment Fairness, Excellence and Partnership will provide a sound basis for the ongoing development of public services.

  • UNISON recognises that the delivery of world class public services requires continued change. We welcome the commitment to the values of promoting social justice and building for the future. UNISON is keen to ensure that members' experience as services providers and citizens informs the process of change.

  • UNISON agrees that it is vital that service delivery is built around the needs of users and not structures. We believe though that staff, because they are both users and providers of public services, have a unique voice and should be closely involved in any change process.

  • High quality services need secure long-term funding. They also need high-quality staff. If services are to be innovative then staff need the resources to try new approaches and support with the risks involved.

  • Co-operation continues to offer the best route forward. PSOs increasingly need to collaborate and work jointly to provide public services. However we also need to address the fragmentation of services, disrupted by privatisation and the growth of un-elected public bodies.

  • UNISON believes that the key weakness of this paper is its focus on structures and lack of detail on workforce issues. People are central to public service and its ethos. Job losses are an obvious concern as are changes in employment terms and conditions.

 

Introduction

UNISON Scotland welcomes the opportunity to submit a response to the Scottish Executive regarding Transforming public services the next phase of reform. We are Scotland's largest trade union representing over 160,000 members across the public sector.

UNISON Scotland recognises that all public sector organisations should be aware of opportunities for continued improvement and that change is inevitable as the challenges facing Scotland change. We welcome the commitment to the values of promoting social justice and building for the future. UNISON is keen to ensure that UNISON members' experience as services providers informs the process of change.

Approach to transforming public services

UNISON believes that the future development of public services should be based on collaboration and co-operation. The guiding principles should be Democracy, Investment, Fairness, Excellence and Partnership. It is these principles that will ensure efficient and effective services "fair to all" and "personal to each of us".

Our detailed approach to public service reform is set out in Revitalising our Public Services - UNISON's manifesto for Scotland's public services (copy enclosed and on the web at www.unison-scotland.org.uk ).

Consultation questions

User focus

UNISON Scotland agrees that public services need to be built around the needs of users. UNISON members as providers and users of services have a unique perspective and so should also be central to discussions on the future development of services. We believe that it is democracy that makes the public sector responsive to users. The views of all sectors of the community need to be sought not just the best educated or most powerful. Public service users are not a homogenous group.

All public bodies should have a statutory duty to involve users meaningfully in the decision making process. Genuine involvement is more than just consultation. It requires involving users in defining the problem as well as the solution. Organisation structures need to be decentralised to the appropriate level for each function. The fragmentation caused by privatisation and the recent growth in Quango's hinders this process.

In terms of responding to complaints it is vital that staff who have contact with the public are empowered to make decisions and are fully embedded in the organisation they represent so that they can understand complaints and take action. This means that organisations must have the capacity to support and train staff and fully involve all members of a team in delivery rather that creating a separation between, those who deliver services and those who administer them. Discussion of staff in terms of frontline and back room does little to help this process.

Quality and innovation

UNISON Scotland is fully committed to the aim of Scotland setting the standards for public services delivery. We should aim to have the best public services in the world. High quality services need secure adequate long-term funding.

It is people, not structures, who deliver high quality services. In order to have world class services the staff involved need to be trained supported and developed. The public sector needs to offer competitive wages and terms and conditions in order to attract and retain good staff.

It is also necessary to a change to a culture which instead of centralised control and blame allows innovation to flourish. Focusing on central targets and on outcomes does not allow innovation to flourish. Creativity needs space to flourish: to try and to fail, it requires risk.

Sharing information through partnership and mutual trust allows best practice to flourish while league tables and target lead to competition and mistrust. Staff need the resources and freedom to develop networks to learn from the best practice.

Efficiency and productivity

Efficiency and productivity while central to public services are about more than price. Traditional methods of measuring the performance of organisations have concentrated on cost accounting methods that may not be entirely suitable to public services. There is also a concern that a costly, bureaucratic, scrutiny industry could develop to examine public services. The measurements used to assess performance are often subjective and fairly crude and do not take into account all the factors involved in providing a service. They are also often based on what data is already being collected.

Any analysis of performance needs to take into account the often variable funding levels that services receive as well as their interaction with other PSOs. Focusing only on outcomes ignores this.

Targets should be based on inputs, outputs and outcomes together with process measures. Financial systems will also need to be reviewed to be consistent with this approach. It should also be recognised that assessing outcomes is fraught with the difficulties of identifying cause and effect and the influence of other policies and organisations.

There is also a concern of how open and transparent any scrutiny regime would be, especially with the growth of Quangos, and the increased use of private firms.

While recognising the aims of the Efficient Government Initiative UNISON is concerned that past efficiency savings have simply been a cover for real cuts in services or privatisation. Improved efficiency requires negotiations at local level to be based on genuine partnership approach with early and meaningful involvement of staff and their trade unions with realistic timetables and objectives.

Joining Up

The problems that face Scotland in the future will not be solved by single agencies working alone and so partnership has to continue to be the cornerstone of Scottish public service reform. In a small country like Scotland PSOs are often organised on a smaller scale to ensure local responsiveness and accountability. This means that they may lack the scale to effectively deliver some services. This in turn leads to calls for reorganisation into larger less responsive units, boundary changes or the privatisation of some services. The perceived need to respond to public policy concerns often leads governments to the conclusion that to be seen to be taking action requires the establishment of a new body or the centralisation of a service. This brings the service closer to the Minister responsible but further from the service user.

Co-operation therefore continues to offer the best route forward. PSOs increasingly need to collaborate and work jointly to provide public services. The new Criminal Justice Authority is an example where current groups have been networked under a chief executive.

Public Service Networks offer joined up working without the upheaval of structural reorganisation. They are essentially an agreement between public service providers to work jointly on a project usually by pooling resources and working to a common action plan. In a changing environment networks are a more rapid and effective method of responding to change than constant boundary reviews and statutory reorganisation. PSNs can also bring together the fragmented services, disrupted by privatisation and the growth of un-elected public bodies. They offer co-operation not competition and the opportunity to make effective use of ICT and economies of scale without centralised control.

Strengthening accountability

UNISON believes that as far as possible public bodies should be directly elected. It is through this direct link to users that public bodies can be held accountable for the services they deliver. Where direct elections are not possible organisations should become an amalgam of elected representatives, appointed lay persons and professionals. All public bodies should have a statutory duty to involve users meaningfully in the decision making process. This requires a high degree of transparency and openness.

Genuine consultation involves users in framing the problem as well as any solution. This is also true of the scrutiny process. In order to strengthen accountability the monitoring of services needs to be appropriate and cost effective. Focusing on targets can be at the detriment of the overall services.

Structures outcomes and people

UNISON believes that the key weakness of this paper is its focus on structures and lack of detail on workforce issues. People are central to public service and its ethos. Job losses are an obvious concern as are changes in employment terms and conditions. Past changes have a focussed on cutting staff numbers and reorganisation. Staff's past experiences have not always been positive. Long-term planning for this type of organisational change is always helpful. There will be a range of negotiation, contractual and statutory consultation requirements on PSOs. A few glossy newsletters will not suffice.

Any analysis of performance needs to take into account the often variable funding levels that services receive as well as their interaction with other PSOs. Focusing only on outcomes ignores this. Targets should be based on inputs, outputs and outcomes together with process measures. Financial systems will also need to be reviewed to be consistent with this approach. It should also be recognised that assessing outcomes is fraught with the difficulties of identifying cause and effect and the influence of other policies and organisations.

Conclusion

UNISON welcomes the opportunity to discuss the principles for continued improvement in public services in Scotland. We believe that the principles of Democracy, Investment, Fairness, Excellence and Partnership will provide a sound basis for ongoing development. It is vital that the expertise of public sector staff is central to the future development of services. UNISON therefore looks forward to continued positive engagement in the change process. The challenge of change can only in our view be achieved through mature partnership working with staff side organisations in the public sector in Scotland at all levels.

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For Further Information Please Contact:

Matt Smith, Scottish Secretary
UNISONScotland
UNISON House
14, West Campbell Street,
Glasgow G2 6RX

Tel 0845 355 0845 Fax 0141 342 2835

e-mail matt.smith@unison.co.uk

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