The public sector seeks to optimise
the affordability and the standard of public services in
partnership with the private sector – but is being held back by its
own failings. Only with a modernisation of the machinery of
government and a change in its mindset will the right procurement
decisions be made to provide essential public services in a
difficult economic climate. That was the message delivered to
delegates at the Third Annual Lecture of the Business Services
Association (BSA) earlier this week, hosted by law firm Pinsent
Masons at the Cabinet War Rooms in London.
Foreshadowing the approach of an
incoming Conservative Government, Mark Hoban MP, Shadow Financial
Secretary to the Treasury, saw a need for the state to procure an
irreducible minimum of public services and the limits on their
capacity to do so. Yet to fulfil the role of the "enabling state",
Government needs to acquire and develop the skill set to procure
the supply of services in a way which maximises value for the
taxpayer.
"Too often, attempts at integration
between the private and public sector have proceeded without proper
reform of the public sector. We need to modernise the machinery of
government so each department asks itself 'what can we do
differently, more efficiently, more effectively?'", he said.
"Now, more than ever, it is
important to squeeze every penny out of public service financing
and the superior efficiency and productivity gains associated with
the private sector will be essential. We simply cannot afford to
ignore this when the emphasis in this decade will be delivering
more for less."
Pinsent Masons' Head of Support
Services, Michael Ryley, said: "Service providers will be
encouraged by the Tories' acknowledgement of some of the problems
surrounding the procurement of contracts for services and the
determination to address them. What they will be a little concerned
about is the timescale for changes – attitudes in the Civil Service
are not going to change overnight. Some of these issues will
require an interim solution."
"Mark Hoban's comments were premised on the consensus
surrounding the delivery of public services by the private sector.
Contractors will probably feel that the unions are not bought in to
that consensus and that there are perils ahead," said Ryley.
See the transcript of the lecture
here.
For more information on the BSA, please visit www.bsa-org.com.
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