Improving public services in the United Kingdom
| Author | Richard Mottram |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230150321 |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
AND
DEVELOPMENT, VOL.
15,
31 1-318
(1995)
Improving public services in the United Kingdom
RICHARD MOTTRAM
UK
Ministry
of
Defence
INTRODUCTION
‘New management structures are being developed, competition is being
introduced or extended; arrangements for pay are changing rapidly. All
these changes are in pursuit of a single, worthwhile cause: the
safeguarding and improvement of our public services, for the benefit of
those who use them, at a cost which the nation can afford.’ (The Citizen’s
Charter First Report)
This article identifies some features of the British Government’s public service
reform programme in recent years and draws out ‘lessons’ on processes associated
with successful change. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive, reflecting the danger
of implying that what works in one context can necessarily be read across to another.
What then is the
UK
context? In the
UK
some
5
%
million people are employed in
public service occupations, of whom around
500,000
are civil servants. Total
numbers employed have fallen by more than
25%
since
1979
through transfers to the
private sector and efficiency savings. Second, the focus for change has been on
bringing about more effective, responsive and efficient public services. What follows,
therefore, takes largely as read the crucial importance
of:
free and fair elections, the
rule of law and its application to all including the servants of the state, and the
equitable administration of the law by honest public servants. The absence of
discussion of these issues should not be taken to imply that they are not of first-order
and prior importance; but rather that the British Government has seen the priority in
its context to raise public service performance in ways that sustain key public service
values, rather than to bring about constitutional reform.
THE
AGENDA
OF
CHANGE
What has prompted this agenda of change? Firstly, there are the twin pressures on
democratic governments throughout the world-a desire for improvement in the
quality and delivery of services of increasing importance (whether health care,
education, social security and
so
on) coupled with resistance to higher taxes. In
Richard Mottram was Permanent Secretary,
Office
of
Public Service and Science,
UK
Cabinet Office. He
is currently Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of
Defence, Whitehall, London,
SWl
IXX,
UK,
and member
of
the CAPAM Board
of
Directors.
CCC
0271-2075/95/03031148
0
1995
by
John
Wiley
8z
Sons,
Ltd.
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