How can entrenched inequalities be tackled in the next period of public reform, when 13 years of Labour government have failed to make an impact and now in the face of severe spending cuts?
That is the question posed by a new report out today from the 2020 Public Services Trust. It concludes that while public service policies have never been more committed to reducing damaging inequalities in society and promoting social cohesion, services have struggled to make progress.
This matters, argues the trust, because the social advantages and disadvantages citizens bring to services are reproduced in the outcomes they get. So poor children, for instance, benefit less from their schooling than their affluent peers. There is a gap, which cannot be bridged simply by aiming at a fair distribution of what the trust calls 'entitlements'.
The real challenge lies in converting entitlements into valuable outcomes - in other words, how to ensure that people make the most of what they get.
Paul Buddery, research manager at the trust, argues that reform can unlock progress on some of the most entrenched inequalities in out society, by supporting and increasing the scope for individual autonomy, recognised by the report as "an intrinsic good, but also as instrumentally valuable in driving better outcomes and fairer treatment".
The report puts forward three basic shifts in policy-making. It wants:
• a move from social security to social productivity
• a move of power away from the centre of government
• the public sector to reconnect "finance with purpose"
These three shifts, it claims, "can align public actions better with the outcomes we value as individuals and communities . . ."
Today, service users are often invited to see themselves and others as consumers in receipt of - and in competition for - fixed and scarce resources. In the future, when people see themselves and others as agents and actors, individually or collaboratively expanding public value by generating new solutions, competitive animosities are likely to be reduced."
Buddery does acknowledge that this brave new world of public services is unlikely to be straightforward and that changes bring risk - a reformed system would be more unpredictable and have more variations than in existing services.
The report adds that no single model of support will be effective in all circumstances. There will need to be more choices - and there will need to be much better understanding about public finances, particularly in relation to spending on some disadvantaged groups.
"Minimally resourced and weakly led, reform at a time of austerity might only succeed in maintaining the position of disadvantaged communities," says the report, as it calls for bold resources and strong leadership.
From Whitehall Watch
From Bubb's Blog
From Flip Chart Fairy Tales
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