Striving for Excellence in Public Service Delivery: Experiences from an Analysis of the Private Finance Initiative
| Date | 01 October 2004 |
| Published date | 01 October 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207670401900405 |
| Author | Richard Laughlin,Jane Broadbent |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Striving
for
Excellence
in
Public
Service
Delivery:
Experiences
from
an
Analysis
of
the
Private
Finance
Initiative
Jane
Broadbent
Royal
Holloway,
University
of
London
Richard
Laughlin
King's
College,
University
of
London
Abstract
This
article
is
built
on
the
assumption
that
all
Governments
will
strive
for
excellence
in
public
service
delivery
and
will
put
in
place
all
manner
of
innovations
to
achieve
this
end
state.
These
innovations
assume
that
there
is
always
scope
for
improvement,
very
largely
because
what
constitutes
this
end
state
is
contested
and
subject
to
changing
views
and
disagreements
by
the
multiple
constituencies
involved
in
public
service
delivery.
The
paper
makes
plain
that
this
realisation
does
not
mean
that
a
discursively
agreed
consensus
on
improvement
and
excellence
in
particular
cases
is
impossible
but
rather
cautions
against
claiming
that
this
is
some
absolute,
objective
and
time-invariant
state.
These
themes
are
illustrated
through
an
ongoing
six-
year
research
project
into
analysing
and
evaluating
the
Private
Finance
Initiative
(PFI)
with
particular
emphasis
on
PFI
in
the
National
Health
Service.
PFI
is
an
innovation
in
public
service
delivery
instituted
in
1992
as
a
way
to
improve
public
service
delivery
thorough
involving
the
private
sector
in
property-based
service
provision.
The
article
traces
PFI
developments
at
the
policy
(Government),
programme/project
(Government
Department)
and
operational
(actual
operating
projects)
levels
to
show
how
the
nature
of
PFI,
its
application
and
its
evaluation
has
changed
over
time
as
the
multiple
constituencies
have
debated
and
disagreed
on
these
key
characteristics.
The
paper
draws
wider
lessons
from
this
case
that
can
be
used
for
analysing
and
evaluating
other
innovations
pursued
to
improve
public
service
delivery
on
the
pathway
to
excellence.
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
19
No.
4
Winter
2004
82
Introduction
Striving
for
excellence
in
public
service
delivery
invariably
involves
a
range
of
policy
innovations
to
achieve
a
level
of
optimality
in
the
context
of
what
ends
are
desired.
However,
achieving
this
optimum
position
is
difficult
in
dynamic
situations.
Where
different
political
or
ideological
positions
are
taken,
achieving
this
ultimate
end
state
is
likely
to
be
particularly
problematic.
That
excellence
is
sought
but
rarely
achieved
rests
also
on
the
fact that
excellence
is
difficult
to
define
distinct
from
the
judgements
of
'multiple
constituencies'
(Boyne,
2003).
As
excellence
is
a
moving,
and
seemingly
unachievable,
target
this
has
led
to
ongoing
innovations
in
how
to
deliver
public
services.
Thus,
despite
all
the
changes
that
have
occurred
over
previous
decades,
the
view
of
the
current
Labour
Government
is
that
'modernisation'
of
public
service
is
still
needed
(Cabinet
Office,
1999).
Modernisation
has
required
an
operational
plan
to
'reform
the
public
services'
which
comes
from
a
number
of
sources
but
centrally
from
the
newly
created,
and
interestingly
named,
Prime
Minister's
Office
for
Public
Service
Reform
(OPSR,
2002).
These
sort
of
innovations
are
led
by
the
demands
of
the
Government
of
the
day,
but
changes
and
shifts
in
polices
can
occur
as
the
other
'multiple
constituencies'
affected
become
involved
in
the
processes
of
policy
choice,
application
and
evaluation.
This
article
provides
some
general
insights
as
to
how
we
might
understand
the
development
of
these
innovations.
It
draws
from
a
research
project
into
the
Private
Finance
Initiative
(PFI),
which
is
part
of
the
Labour
Government's
modernisation
agenda
(cf.
Broadbent
and
Laughlin,
forthcoming).
This
research
is
located
in
the
secondary
health
care
sector,
which
we
have
been
exploring
over
the
last
six
years.'
PFI
was
launched
in
Autumn
1992
by
the
Conservative
Government
following
a
period
of
extensive
privatisation
of
large
parts
of
the
public
sector
that
had
largely
come
to
an
end.
It
was
driven
by
a
continuing
belief
in
the
importance
of
private
sector
involvement
in
public
sector
activities
but
in
a
way
that
was
intentionally
different
to
the
privatisation
programme.
It
was
an
Initiative
that
was
taken
forward
seemingly
with
even
more
enthusiasm
by
the
current
Labour
Government.
The
Government,
from
its
election
in
1997,
has
both
expanded
the
public
sector
areas
in
which
PFI
is
operationalised
as
well
as
increased
the
level
of
PFI
investment.
From
1992
to
April
2003,
5632
PFI
projects
reached
financial
close
with
a
capital
value
of
£35.5bn.
Four
hundred
and
fifty
one
PFI
projects
are
now
operational
delivering
over
600
new
public
facilities.
There
has
also
been
an
exponential
growth
in
volume
of
PFI
deals
-
so,
for
instance,
in
1995
only
9
PFI
projects
were
signed
worth
£667m
whereas
in
2002
there
were
65
signed
projects
worth
£7.6bn.
Now
in
every
area
of
local
and
central
Government
in
the
UK,
PFI
projects
have
been,
are
and
will
be
developed.
Nevertheless,
despite
this
extensive
presence
PFI
is
technically
not
the
only
source
for
development
of
the
public
sector.
Following
the
recent
Comprehensive
Spending
Reviews
PFI,
in
2003/04,
constitutes
only
11%
of
all
capital
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
19
No.
4
Winter
2004
83
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