It was a great moment when in 1997 the mass of the population demanded that we save public services. Perhaps it is one of the greatest disappointments that despite sackloads of cash, many cannot see the radical changes that have gone into creating those services for the 21st century which they believe we promised, and so are now in danger of losing that mass support. However, we still have an opportunity to make that great leap and regain that buy-in for the benefit of those who need these services most.
Too many words have been written in mandarin speak about ‘transformational government’ by those who believe it to be politically neutral. They should beware of Cameron & co. (registered trademark, of course) using the third sector to divest themselves of public services and inevitable cuts. Our vision and our passion must be to enable redistribution of resources to the frontline, to those who need these services most. If they work for them, they will work for the middle classes whose buy-in we need.
Our principles must, therefore, be to promote social inclusion, delivery of public services using a mixed economy model and democratising the delivery of those services. We need to require all councils and other deliverers to identify those in most need and demonstrate how they are providing services for them. Most citizens’ contact with deliverers consists of fairly straightforward transactions which they want delivered swiftly and efficiently. Most can be done online, thereby releasing resources and frontline staff to those with more complex needs. It’s called redistribution of resources! We need a treasury model of value instead of restricting the benefits of a diversity of deliverers in the third sector for value for money. Social enterprise can deliver the triple bottom line including community empowerment but government itself must take the lead. Why not divvy the QE2 centre to a social enterprise and ensure all councils do likewise?
If the private sector recognises that linking customers in feedback and involvement in their service delivery builds loyalty to a brand, why do we not do likewise? As my womenspeak, kidspeak (and I hope the forthcoming nationspeaks) projects have proved, we can easily increase citizen involvement online. After all, who goes to meetings in this day and age? Certainly not busy mums.
The bottom line is: we need to involve citizens in the design, feedback and continuous improvement of services. Only when we can all have our say, and see our government is listening, can we build confidence and buy-in by all.