DEMOS

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• Collaboration nation What's going on with public services? On the one hand they're supposed to join up and become more holistic, on the other they seem to be becoming ever more fragmented and harder to govern. Schools, for instance, are getting wide ranging independence from local government, but they're still supposed to help solve social problems that involve working with children's trusts and the police.Can we get the benefits of specialisation and integration? Of course we can - and a lot of public servants... from : simonparker 8th June 2006
• Confused (Part II) Two questions spring to mind ? can they both be right? And what will the public make of this? I think the easy answer to the first question is yes- but it requires a great deal more explanation as to why. On the second question ?surely the more people are confused about the real state of public services ?the more detached they will become from those organisations, and the less likely they are going to believe what the ?professionals? tell us. So even if the combined NHS deficit for the last... from : charlieedwards 7th June 2006
• Confused... you will be In more political weirdness... the Tories in Bromley, where I live, have inexplicably turned down the chance to elect Tory 'whipping boy' Adam Rickett. Fortunately, my favourite new politician Chad Noble is also standing for the 'Imagine' party. Chad is a 'progressive conservative' who has based his 'small government' party on the song by John Lennon, oblivious to the fact that Lennon was a swivel-eyed Trot. I'm sure I don't need to tell you which way I'll be voting... from : simonparker 6th June 2006
• Public services: the next generation There are at least three emerging constituencies:The transformers - represented by the likes of Jonathan Freedland, Charlie Leadbeater and Stuart Etherington from the NCVO. Believe the aim should be to transform the way the state does business, bringing it much closer to people and focussing on the co-creation of services. Neophiles with a tendency to sometimes overstate their case, which is still emerging and needs more work.The luddites - represented by Max Hastings and David Craig (author... from : simonparker 19th May 2006
• An uncivil service? New Zealand seems to have followed me home - yesterday the IPPR put out a press release arguing for civil service reforms similar to the ones they implemented down under in the 80s and 90s. The Institute's idea is to create much more of a performance and accountability culture in Whitehall by setting up a civil service commission to appoint and appraise perm secs, sacking the bad ones and rewarding the good ones.Delivery and accountability are clearly an issue for Whitehall - the focus for... from : simonparker 16th May 2006
• Flogging a dead horse? When Blair talks about the Labour party accepting new forms of delivery, I always worry that what he really means is just more markets and choice - as if they can solve all our problems on their own. After the last six months, it's far from obvious that Blairite public management can deliver the goods - a fact highlighted by the ever excellent Simon Caulkin.So, what might be a more exciting vision of what comes next? We'll have a stab at outlining one version of the future in our report on... from : simonparker 15th May 2006
• Back in the pavlova paradise The PHOs in particular seem to be doing some really interesting work by linking GPs, communities and other local health providers, and putting a big emphasis on preventative work. My favourite story is about a PHO not too far from Wellington (which is where we're staying at the moment). The Lower Hutt PHO launched itself by taking a market stall and exchanging frozen chickens for packets of cigarettes as part of a cessation campaign. They ceremonially burnt 50 packets of fags at the end of the... from : duncanoleary 1st May 2006
• Trust me, i'm a doctor The announcement from a group of 900 doctors that the government should look at moving away from an entirely tax-funded system of health is an interesting one. The obvious question is: why should we listen to them? Is it because they are experts who know the health service inside out? They are professionals after all. Or do they represent ?the producer interest? ? a phrase we keep hearing recently. In which case, why should we listen to them at all? Shouldn?t we be listening to service users... from : duncanoleary 3rd April 2006
• I don't like choice, but... The word 'choice' has got a terrible reputation these days. Mention it to a lot of people in the public sector and you conjure up images of Tesco delivering social care along with cries of horror from the professionals. Or at least that's what happened at the Guardian's Managing New Realities conference, from which I've just returned.But in the same breath that they rejected choice, a lot of delegates were asserting that they wanted to give people the money to design their own care packages.... from : simonparker 23rd March 2006
• Producer culture David Walker in the Guardian proposes the John Lewis approach as a model for public management - long-term contracts, developing staff, keeping them happy and fostering a strong ethos.But hang on a second, doesn't this sound more than a little like the kind of cosy culture that got public services into such a mess during the 70s and 80s? Why hasn't John Lewis long since been captured by its workforce?The difference might lie in the way that John Lewis's mutual structure allows it to have a... from : simonparker 8th February 2006

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