The week in public services - 16/01/2018
(Disclaimer: this is a proof-of-concept that team Performance Tracker @instituteforgov are working on — a non-comprehensive overview of what’s going on in public services. This post is part of us having a go at Tuesday weekly updates in 2018.)
Did we miss something important? Let us know!
Carillion
News in the last two days has been dominated by the collapse of Carillion, which holds a number of contracts for the provision of public services — from school dinners to facilities management of prisons and hospitals. Government has pledged to keep services running, and has today asked for a ‘fast-track’ investigation into the firm. The company’s collapse has renewed broader debates over outsourcing, as well as around private financing — which Graham reflected on.
Health and social care
New A&E performance numbers came out this week, showing that emergency admissions to hospital were 4.5% higher in December 2017 than in December 2016. Crunching the numbers, the King’s Fund suggest that we need to move away from a focus on winter crises, and instead look more broadly at longer-term, cumulative pressures on A&E. Emily thought that the latest numbers were concerning because they indicated a new normal.
The ongoing focus on NHS funding is — as Chris Giles pointed out in the FT — reviving the idea of hypothecation, despite the Treasury’s historic reservations. Even former Treasury Perm Sec Nick Macpherson has expressed support for hypothecation, albeit with some caveats.
A new briefing on mental health from the King’s Fund finds that ‘the gap between growth in funding for NHS mental health providers and that for NHS acute providers will continue’ — and that those within the system need to be clear on their priorities and the affects they will have.
Law and order
We tend to think of the police’s primary role as dealing with crime, although there’s been greater recognition in recent years that much police time is taken up with non-crime activity, such as helping those experiencing mental health crises. But how do police officers themselves see their role? New research published by the Police Foundation finds that their attitudes change in the first few years of their careers. At first, officers surveyed strongly agreed that the primary role of an officer was to fight crime; but after four years, most had come to disagree with that conception of their role. Lots more data in the paper.
Schools
What has happened to school funding since 2010, how has school spending changed — and what have some of the effects of this been? The NFER have helpfully reviewed some of the key literature.
Local government
Local government needs to reinvent itself to meet new challenges, according to the NLGN. But, they argue, this reinvention should focus less on altering structures and institutions than on changing culture — and they propose a vision based on ‘creativity, collaboration, and self-determination.’
Neighbourhood services
Waste collection is not standardised across the UK — and Defra Secretary Michael Gove thinks this should change. Colin Cram, former director of the North West Centre of Excellence, agrees, arguing that ‘huge potential benefits from comprehensive and innovative standardised services are still eluding too many councils.’
