public service reform: international experience tom bentley policy network, july 5 th 2007

Public service reform: international experience

Tom Bentley

Policy Network, July 5th 2007

- 2 -

Australia: ahead of and behind the UK

Third Way before Clinton or Blair Strong private and voluntary sectors Federal system promotes policy diversity and fragmentation

High performing but often inequitable services and outcomes

Changing economic and demographic pressures Partial reform consensus

- 3 -

The challenge of contemporary reform

Mixed economy of provision Growing social diversity and inequality

High public expectations, but uncertain legitimacy of state intervention

Complex, fragmented agency and government responsibilities

Constrained fiscal environment

Growing cost and demand pressures

- 4 -

Strengths and weaknesses of a federal system

Competitive tax and investment regimes

Diversity of approach Movement of knowledge, professionals, practical approaches

Grounded city-states

Vertical fiscal imbalance: Competing goals and methods

Lack of collaborative incentives

Remote federal government

- 5 -

Simultaneous priorities

States

School standards and workforce development

Public hospital demand management and waiting list initiatives

Neigbourhood renewal programmes

Expanding TAFE

Commonwealth

Pupil subsidy for independent sector

Penalty tax on those not taking out private insurance

Incentivising private home ownership

Creating new training markets

- 6 -

Challenges

Ageing Workforce participation and productivity Shifting disease burden Cost and demand management Community cohesion Suburban sprawl Systemic failure for Aboriginal communities

Answer = public service productivity?

- 7 -

Core challenges for public services

Expectations gap Fiscal constraints Workforce alienation Fragmentation, reorganisation, complexity Weak voice and transparency

- 8 -

Diversity of provision

(Legrand scale)

Clarity of objective,

coherence of delivery chain

(Barber index)

- 9 -


(Legrand scale)



(Barber index)

high

low

low high

- 10 -

Stasis (survival mode)


(Legrand scale)



(Barber index)

high

low

low high

- 11 -

Stasis (survival mode) Segregation (market share mode)


(Legrand scale)



(Barber index)

high

low

low high

- 12 -

Command and control

(temporary override mode)



(Legrand scale)



(Barber index)

high

low

low high

- 13 -

Command and control

(temporary override mode)

Alignment?

(self sustaining mode)



(Legrand scale)



(Barber index)

high

low

low high

- 14 -

Integrating high performance and high differentiation

But what system capabilities are needed to make the combination successful?

Four things stand out:

1 Combining experience and outcome in definition of service quality

2 Behaviour change through co-production and shared responsibility

3 Promoting coherence in pluralised local systems 4 Serious innovation strategies

- 15 -

Experience and outcome

Need to embed responsiveness in measures of effectiveness New sources of feedback, transparency Elements of Varney Review focusing on service redesign, personalisation

Crucial link is between individual cases of personalisation and wider organisational incentives;

- 16 -

Coproduction needs to tap underlying user motivation

Reasons for internalising responsibility are rarely as simply as economic incentive or threat of sanction:

Focus on client encounters; private value alongside public. All cases of co production draw on multiple sources of motivation:

Sanctions Material rewards Intrinsic rewards Sociality (eg self-policing of antisocial behaviour) Expressive values (eg believing that norms are expressed in govt action) Only specific service strategies which draw on them appropriately will sustain or strengthen individual contributions to better outcomes.

J Alford, 2002, Administration and Society

- 17 -

Learning Practices

Individual choices, aspirations

Identities, collective belonging

Organisational regime and

leadership

Innovation, R&D Systems

State powers to coerce, redistribute, intervene

Local communities

Policy, regulation, inspection, audit

Local Governance Institutions

Market

Bridging networks

- 18 -

Elements of successful innovation systems

Identifying opportunities Creating knowledge Developing new production capabiliities and organisations Sharing risk Building infrastructure

- 19 -

Talking points

1 experience and outcome define quality 2 shared responsibility requires focus on user and workforce motivation

3 coherence in diverse systems needs new methods and capabilities 4 Innovation systems are central to successful delivery

public service reform: international experience tom bentley policy network, july 5 th 2007

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