t has been a truth almost universally acknowledged in public sector management these past decades that the market knows best. And look where that got us. Now, though, as orthodoxies tumble about our ears, local government is leading the way in reassessing the case for contracting out.
A recent report from the Association for Public Service Excellence (Apse) highlights 50 examples of council "in-sourcing", where authorities have brought services back in-house, most often as a result of poor performance by contractors, but also for positive reasons, such as enabling authorities to be more flexible in implementing policies, or meeting strategic goals, such as tackling climate change. In this, as in other areas, local government is taking the lead; it's probably true to say that greater strides have been made in other areas of transforming government at the local level, despite many initiatives by central government.
Part of the problem is that local and central government are two very different entities, and this makes it surprisingly difficult to assess where we have got to in this government's long-running campaign to change the way the public sector delivers services. While there are still many relatively small-scale initiatives that seek to change the way the public sector delivers services, there is little sign as yet of the avalanche of the lean, mean, joined-up services for which the government yearns.
Why has progress been slow? We shouldn't under estimate resistance to change and the very real challenges in finding the mechanisms that really will get government departments, agencies and local authorities to work together. Public service agreements in central government and multi-area agreements in local government have certainly gone some way towards this still elusive goal, but territoriality remains deeply embedded in the way the government does things. Then there is the challenge of demonstrating clearly the benefits of service transformation (to use the jargon of government itself). The govern ment seems quite poor, still, at conveying the bene fits of better government. People have noticed improvements in their local public services, according to one piece of research last year, but most still believe taxes have gone up without services having improved.
Cause for celebration
Despite all this, it is probably still cause for celebration that there is still the political will to push forward with this programme. The cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, has been unfailingly supportive of reform in the civil service and continues to laud all signs of movement towards great efficiency. That agenda becomes even more pressing in the present financial climate.
Citizens need services, and the Apse report shows mounting evidence that, where the market has failed, many councils are providing those services directly, for less than it would cost to contract them out to those who need to make a profit. In these troubled times, it seems, commonsense may begin to prevail.
