One of the biggest political challenges for a generation faces us – how to deliver world-class public services across the nation. It’s a challenge for Unison because we believe in the public service ethos of quality public services delivered by a dedicated, motivated and well-rewarded staff. But
it is an even bigger challenge for our Labour government, which put regeneration of public services at the heart of its election manifesto.
We have one historic chance to deliver those world-class public services. We shall never be forgiven if we fail.
It is refreshing that the public services are back in fashion after years of denigration, demoralisation and destruction. But not all of the attention has been welcome. We had the Prime Minister’s ‘scars on my back’ speech, the spectre of further privatisation of our public services raised during the general election campaign and the charge of ‘wreckers’ levelled at us.
We can live with name calling, but what we can’t live with is the quick and lazy assumption that competitive markets, tendering and private sector management are the solutions to every problem. The evidence of the last twenty years is that these measures will not produce any significant improvement in services.
Like the government, we want public services that are effective, efficient and value for money. The government says it’s not about ideology but about what works. We agree. But we find it increasingly frustrating that the government ignores the growing body of evidence about PFI and privatised services.
Unison has demonstrated that private finance does not bring any extra resources and that every penny raised by private companies has to be repaid – with interest and profits. We have produced evidence about the high costs and frequent problems of PFI schemes in hospitals and schools. We have produced evidence to show that PFI is neither value for money nor does it effectively transfer risk to the private sector. The public sector cannot transfer the risk of service delivery – even where it is entirely privatised, like Railtrack.
PFI is not delivering for our health and education services. Yes, new hospitals and schools are being built, but millions are spent on complex contracts with inherently higher costs and excessive interest charges. And the only difference between these and traditional procurement is that they are paid out
of revenue and not capital budgets.
When the costs escalate the school or hospital finds it is devoting a larger share of its budget to buildings and services. Those payments have to be met, so there is less to spend on frontline services. And, more worryingly, our kids’ education is handed over to unaccountable private companies. ,/p>
There are well-publicised cases: the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Passport Office computer system, the Royal Armouries museum and many more. Privately run housing benefit contracts have been cancelled in Lambeth, Kingston, Taunton Deane, Hackney and Waltham Forest, and have run into serious problems in Southwark and North Somerset. Manchester mental health services face a £2 million cut in funding this year as the PFI project in South Manchester takes £40 million from the local health economy. And the new Wakefield PFI hospital will cut acute beds by 24 percent. That is hardly a model for reform.
Some argue that it does not matter so long as we get new schools and hospitals. It matters because it doesn’t work. It matters because it swallows up huge amounts of public money which could go into frontline services. And it matters because it doesn’t give us value for money.
Real reform is not about bringing in the private sector. It’s about what delivers, getting the investment right and sharing best practice across the services. We will co-operate in reform and we accept that changes in the way our members work may be needed to get more responsive services.
Real reform is not sexy. It involves attention to detail, managing change, a relentless desire to improve; improvements underpinned by a public service ethos.
I am inspired by the difference well-motivated staff can make whenever I visit workplaces around the country. This is underpinned by the government’s own Public Service Productivity Panel Report, Making a Difference, which has case studies every MP and activist should read.
The recent Budget provided the investment needed. It was skilful and complex and had at its heart the restoration of our public services. It was disheartening to hear the CBI, the voice of business, carping about the one percent increase in National Insurance: as if business and industry were somehow divorced from the benefits of quality public services; as if a healthy, educated workforce was conjured from thin air; and as if improved roads – an integrated, efficient transport system – had no bearing on their profit margins. We, as workers, are prepared to pay our fair share. The business community should pay theirs.
Delivery of those world-class public services depends on every single penny
of that extra money being spent on the NHS and our public services for the benefit of our communities. We don’t want to discover in three or five years that the money was siphoned off by the private sector – into the hands of multinationals where eighteen to 30 percent profits are being made from contracts with no improvement in services.
We need to make sure that the money reaches the frontline. Let’s make sure that we don’t have a 20 percent capital budget underspend, let’s get rid of the enforced two percent year-on-year efficiency savings in local government. No-one can improve services if they have to cut costs year-on-year. Our services should be accountable and responsive to service users, not to a board of directors that answers only to shareholders.
And let’s nail the myth that investment in our public services should somehow be separate from investment in the very people who deliver them. There was great media furore at the notion that any of the extra money announced in the Budget should go towards pay increases for staff. Staff equals frontline care. You need to pay decent wages or you will lurch from one recruitment and retention crisis to another.
This doesn’t just mean talking about police, teachers, doctors and nurses. It also means talking about the armies of staff who bring dignity to the lives of so many. The armies of care workers, home helps, school staff, caretakers, dinner ladies and classroom assistants who keep the services and the systems going.
Training and education opportunities should be improved. We spend less than one day a year training our local government staff – hardly building a world-class workforce.
Improvements and reforms must be made across all our services. The extra money in health will make little difference to the NHS waiting lists if there are insufficient resources in the care sector. If social services can’t cope, the NHS bears the brunt with bed blocking, waiting lists and cancelled operations. If we aim to improve health, we must look to related issues such as housing, social services, education and poverty. ,/p>
Joined-up investment matched by joined-up results is the path to take. Give public sector workers the chance and they will deliver world-class public services.