Why we need a Public Service Reform Bill

Imagine a ‘Barmy Tesco’ model where each of these Tesco stores ran its own individual corporate function on the floor above the shop. Each would support its very own layer of senior executives in finance, HR, procurement, marketing, IT, ops, estates, etc — and each of these would have its supporting network of suppliers, advisers, etc. They would commission their own, bespoke back end functions and services, all with their own time consuming office politics. It goes without saying that none of these bespoke back end services, and associated preoccupations, would be of the slightest interest, or value-add, to Barmy Tescos’ customers (do you really care if your local Tesco is running its own, special, ‘local’, CRM?).

Any supermarket daft enough to run itself on this principle of ‘wheel reinvention’ would quickly go to the wall as the ‘tail’ progressively ‘wagged the dog’ and customers accordingly voted with their feet. Happily, like all modern digitally enabled organisations, the real Tesco recognises that local focus is best delivered via rigorous standardisation, and consumption, of a common back end.

Unfortunately, our 65- NHS Trusts, 2,000 social housing providers, 430 councils, 135-odd universities, 43 police forces, and thousands of charities are collectively run like ‘Barmy Tescos’, where perhaps 20-30% - or even more – of their operating budget is wasted on non-frontline activity (for the NHS, ‘frontline’ is doctors and nurses; for social housing, this is housing; for councils, this is public servants and public infrastructure; for police forces, it is visible policing, etc).

Duplication of these corporate/admin functions is costly, sub-optimal, prevents joined-up services, distracts time and resource from the mission, and is ultimately unsustainable: commentators are increasingly recognising the need for structural reform. But what? And how? The important insight is that “transformation” of all local services can only happen collectively, at sectoral level. However, local service providers at caught in a ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ situation: cutting front-line services, because they are forced to maintain all this suboptimal legacy because there is no alternative. In this 30-min talk, I'll argue that the solution is a Public Service Reform Bill. Collective transformation of our precious public services can only really be co-ordinated from the centre - and the sooner we get started, the better. How much worse does everything need to get before this happens?