Policy Hub
On 7 December 2008, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) published a report (Freedom for public services) which argues that it is possible to improve public services and cut spending at the same time.
The report contends that identifying and repealing specific regulations is not the answer. Radical structural reform of public services is needed. It insists that mechanisms of central control – including centrally imposed targets, financial controls, guidance, codes of practice – should be replaced with local and Parliamentary accountability. Diversity of public service, and not uniformity, should be encouraged.
The report suggests that greater freedom would enable professionals to provide better, more responsive and more innovative public services. It claims that, if the budgets of the main spending departments fell by 5% as a consequence of fewer bureaucratic and regulatory burdens, government spending could be reduced by £15 billion a year with no loss in frontline service provision.