Marc Cetkowski
Tough but fair. Chancellor George Osborne's budget day words in June were delivered like a new parent, eager to stamp authority but devoid of any longer term plan for instilling a sense of security.
Like a naughty child Britain has been sent to bed early with no tea and without any thought for what's going to happen when it wakes up again. This hardly fits with prime minister David Cameron's Big Society vision.
As we come to terms with the severity of public spending cuts - and we won't know the full story until the spending review is published in October - it is clear that the first 100 days of this coalition government are going to be remembered for one thing – creating chaos.
No one is under any illusion that cuts are needed but it is the lack of forward planning that is more than a little worrying. A 'Spending Challenge' website set up to get suggestions from public sector employees on cutting waste received 65,000 responses.
An impressive return but what's the point? Was it a PR stunt or just indicative of a lack of ideas and lack of longer term planning?
One thing is certain. The cuts are causing turmoil among senior civil servants who are flabbergasted that there has been little to no investment in planning and in understanding the longer term consequences of such unexpectedly deep financial cuts. In the budget Mr Osborne announced cuts across all government departments of 25% over four years. It is now emerging that some departments have been asked to cut up to 40%.
Intentionally or otherwise, cut and be damned appears to be the motto for the first 100 days and the consequences of that will be far reaching. Partnership arrangements in particular are under serious threat. Some of these partnerships have taken many years to establish, such as the links between PCTs and Children's Trusts. It's therefore disappointing to see plans being abandoned due to financial pressures with the only real consequence being a drop off in frontline care.
The cost of shortermism
There is also the potential fallout in delivery chains that stand to be severely disrupted as departments crumble, partners disappear and knowledge is drained in staff redundancies. These delivery chains are complex and they sort of work, feeding frontline services with vital materials. Any chink in the chain will cause disruption ultimately leading to a minimum 12 months of costly untangling and re-establishing links. Such is the cost of shortermism.
It's a dire picture and not the one David Cameron would have wanted to paint as he stood in front of Number 10 on 11 May.
It is however not unsalvageable. One solution is whole system commissioning, not procurement but in terms of whole service lifecycle, looking at regional variation and the needs of individual communities and people. A plan, based on requirement and system design, not a broad brush based on balance sheets. It's about using limited resources to the greatest affect and managing those resources through a structure that enables greater accountability.
Ultimately it demands a shift in traditional public sector thinking but this is change worth having as it will form a solid base on which all future strategic decisions can be made, cost-effectively too.
The fear however is that time is running out. The first 100 days of ConDem have pushed us to the cliff edge. The second 100 days could push us over.
Marc Cetkowski is head of government and public sector at project management consultancy PIPC
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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