Understanding the Public Services Industy

Public Services Industry Review
Annex F: Summary of Selected Government Reports in this area
Excellence and Fairness: Achieving World Class Public Services: Cabinet Office 2008
This paper outlines the government’s overall framework for driving further improvements
in public service delivery over the coming years. Although there have been substantial
improvements in UK public services over the last decade, when taken as a whole many
services are not yet able to offer the world class service the public increasingly expects. To
achieve this government needs to move beyond the top down, target driven approach it
used to deliver the first phase of reform. In particular it needs to;
•
•
•
Empower citizens; giving them increased choice and control as to how they receive
public services as well as making those who deliver these services more directly
accountable to them.
Fostering a new professionalism across the public sector workforce, combining greater
responsiveness to users with more autonomy and increased investment in skills.
More strategic leadership from central government, with interventions focused on
underperforming organisations as well as the overall direction and purpose of public
services; leaving individual organisations more free to innovate and respond to the
requirements of their users.
The National Procurement Strategy for Local Government – Final Report from Communities
and Local Government & Local Government Association 9 April 2008
The National Procurement Strategy has led to a more strategic approach to procurement in
local government and has created a platform for the realisation of efficiency gains and more
sustainable procurement. Highlights from the report:
•
•
•
•
•
•
£3.1 billion efficiency gains achieved by end 2006/07
46 per cent of councils now working with their Regional Centre of Excellence
54 per cent of councils involved in joint commissioning
38 per cent of councils involved in shared procurement function
24 per cent of councils involved in sharing of other corporate functions
65 per cent of councils have adopted the Small Business Friendly Concordat
Building Professional Skills for Government – a strategy for delivery (1 April 2008): Cabinet
Office
The Skills Strategy, with the Professional Skills for Government (PSG) competency
framework at its core, identifies the collective action which is needed to equip government’s
present and future workforce with the PSG skills. The objective is to raise standards and
enhance individual performance, improve organisational capability and ultimately the
quality of public services.
99