A taxing time for public services
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by Malcolm
Hyde, regional director, CBI South East
There are two principal challenges facing public policymakers at
the moment. The one I mention most often is growth: how we get the
economy moving, how we encourage entrepreneuralism and job
creation. Whether the recent Budget delivers that time will
tell.
The second challenge is how we can deliver good public services
in a time of spending constraints - delivering more with less is
possible but not easy.
An ageing population, many with chronic health problems, are no
longer happy with 'like it or lump it,' wanting more and better
services. This is putting huge pressure on health, social care and
welfare, meaning not just years but often decades of extra demand
for services.
Responding to this isn't optional for our public services. It's
what they're there for.
The government has set out its stall to create a sustainable
path for the public finances, chiefly through spending cuts and not
tax increases.
Yet the response from some quarters has been disproportionate.
Plenty of vested interests have said the same thing: 'Yes, we
accept the need for some cuts, but not this many and not in our
area'.
The TUC warned that Britain 'will become a darker, more brutish
place', adding that reducing the deficit is taking us on an
'economic death spiral from which escape is all but
impossible'.
Back in the real world, we must hope public service managers
will respond rather more positively and find new ways of providing
the services people want at a price the country can bear.
Making cuts is rarely easy, usually painful and there are often
casualties. But saying change is impossible shouldn't be the
default response.
What we need is the re-engineering of our public services.
Most large organisations have re-engineered their products and
services in response to the pressures of a dynamic, competitive
world. The best ones have done this with deliberate disregard to
the status quo and by starting with a clean slate.
Our public services should do the same, and ask some fundamental
questions: What's the purpose of a service? Who uses it and why?
Are user needs being met?
For it to work, we'll need strong leadership with a clear
vision, properly engaged employees and people to take risks - to
invest even if the saving won't benefit their specific budget but
will mean savings elsewhere.
We need to be sensible and constructive: no magic bullets or
poisoned darts, just reason, reassurance and optimism that we can
do things better.
Monday, April 11 2011
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