Projects
Beyond privatisation: government strategies for influencing outcomes
The performance of our major services, from health and education to the privatised utilities and personal finance, is of vital importance in modern society, both directly (because of the impact on citizens’ well-being) and indirectly (because of the political significance and sensitivity). If the government is dissatisfied with the performance of a major service industry, what sorts of strategies does it have for doing something about it?
The aim of this paper is to stimulate discussion about possible new forms of government intervention. It discusses possible objectives, strategies and tools which government can use to alter the environment within which companies make their decisions.
Our involvement in two initiatives has suggested that the issue of new forms of government leadership is worthy of some debate and attention by government. First, Templeton College ran a substantial programme in 1996 with the (then) Shadow Cabinet and ministerial teams on the management of change in government and the role of the minister. These sessions stimulated lively debate on their emotional dislike of some of the Conservative managerial reforms, including privatisation (with its focus on financial objectives to the exclusion of social outcomes) and the loss of a ‘public service ethos’ in many privatised and public services.
Second, in a wide ranging seminar organised by us and involving around 20 key thinkers in the area of the role of government, John Kay (Oxford University) and Andrew Adonis (the Observer) led a discussion critiquing the existing mechanisms for reforming service delivery and suggesting the need to investigate new models of intervention.