When David Cameron outlined his vision for a smarter state in September, he called on local authorities, departments and charities to work more closely together to deliver “a whole government approach rather than a series of piecemeal and inconsistent interventions”.
That sounds as though political momentum for public service reform is ramping up. Yet accessing local services, such as health, social care, education and employment services, continues to be a confusing, frustrating and time-consuming process.
In our report published today about joining up public services around local needs, we argue that the potential benefits of joining up services are clear: closer integration of areas like health and social care to meet the needs of a local population.
But publicly-funded organisations are working hard to maintain business-as-usual activities, and their instinct now may be to protect, rather than join up, shrinking budgets and resources.
Countless attempts to join up public services – from Tony Blair’s new deal to David Cameron’s troubled families project – have ultimately failed to translate into system-wide change, and collaboration between organisations remains rare. Our report identifies three big and recurring challenges to devolution:
- Short term policy and funding cycles can restrict the ability of local organisations to invest in long-term partnerships.
- Misaligned geographies and the patchwork of commissioning, funding and regulatory processes can make it difficult for local organisations to design services around a “whole person”.
- Cultural differences between professions can discourage collaboration and make joining up services like health and social care more difficult.
This is not to say devolution is the wrong policy – it just needs to be done in the right way. Public service reform requires new ways of working at all levels of government – local, central and frontline. These include:
- Understanding and sharing effective models and practices. We need to know which models of joining-up are most effective in improving outcomes for citizens and how this varies across different sectors and places. We also need to find out the most effective ways of sharing good practice for frontline professionals.
-
Putting powers and capabilities in the right areas. Key questions remain about who should receive the powers on offer in devolution – individuals, communities or places – and what powers and flexibilities local areas need to join up around citizens. This will also no doubt mean change in Whitehall to better support local areas.
- Getting the right leadership and governance in place. We don’t yet know what types of local scrutiny arrangements will bring a real focus on citizen needs in efforts to join up different services.
The chancellor’s spending review on 20 November presents an opportunity to reform public services, but it also puts these reforms at risk if not done properly. George Osborne’s “devolution revolution” will give more power to local government, but it cannot be a panacea for real and meaningful public service reform.
Jo Casebourne is a programme director at the Institute for Government
Talk to us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic and sign up for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday.
