The week in public services: 18th February 2020
This week: councils splashing property cash; criminal justice reform in Durham; and retaining teachers with better training?
Health and Social Care
The King’s Fund have analysed the latest NHS staff survey data. A larger share of staff would recommend the NHS as a place to work, and feel supported by their manager, but there has been a rise in the share of staff experiencing discrimination. Chris Graham’s summary thread is the best short overview.
Stephen Black draws some interesting lessons to the reduction in New York’s crime rate in the 1990s, TL;DR — it was mostly about using accurate and timely data, rapidly deploying staff, and evaluating what did(n’t) work — not fixing ‘broken windows’. Should public services in England be doing more of this analysis?
Meanwhile in general practice, the British Medical Association are arguing that the success of the new primary care networks — groups of GP practices which will deliver more services in the community — will succeed or fail depending on whether they can actually recruit enough ‘wider staff’ such as community pharmacists and physiotherapists. Which, given current recruitment problems, looks challenging.
The biggest story though, is what the government’s new immigration proposals mean for public services — particularly social care, where EU staff make up 1 in 11 care workers. TL;DR —in the absence of more public money to increase staff pay, there will be ongoing recruitment and retention pressures. Read Simon Bottery’s thread.
Children and Young People
A new report from the Education Policy Institute argues that high-quality Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is “as effective for improving pupil outcomes as having a teacher with a decade’s experience in the classroom” and could improve retention amongst early-career teachers. Big claims. Do they stack up? It’s based on an evaluation of 53 randomised controlled trials (+1), and it considers how to design these resources, so teachers actually use them (+2). Great report — a model for sensible policy research.
Natalie Perera also wrote a good article on what EPI think ‘levelling’ education in the UK would really mean — greater focus on the early years workforce and children’s services.
The Johnson government committed to review the care system in its 2019 election manifesto. What should that review focus on? This blog from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has a few ideas.
Local Government
Really good new National Audit Office report on local authorities investing in commercial property — how many are doing it, what the risks are, and (in my view) demonstrating why the Treasury response of raising the rate for borrowing from the public works loan board was too blunt.
Abdool Kara from the NAO wrote a thought-provoking blog on whether small or large council are more efficient and, if so, why. When do economies of scale turn into diseconomies of scale? Worth reading.
Law and order
The first piece of research in a new series by the Police Foundation covers the public’s priorities, attitudes, and expectations of the police, using quantitative polling and in-depth focus groups. My biggest takeaway was that “people want visible local policing, but when asked to choose, see neighbourhood policing as less important than other areas of police work”. Haven’t got time for the whole thing? Read Rick Muir’s summary tweets here, or Andy Higgins’ launch blog here.
A good news story for a change! Durham police have trialled a scheme where they offer offenders the chance to avoid prosecution if they take part in a rehabilitation programme for mental health and substance abuse. According to The Guardian , the trial found a 15 percentage point drop in reoffending after two years among those who took part in rehabilitation compared with those who did not. The chief constable of Durham reckons this programme will work for low-level offences, but not for more serious offences.
