During the current culture of austerity measures where public sector is facing unprecedented levels of cuts, there is a sense of foreboding about the impact on rural services. Policy rhetoric is that individuals, families and communities have to do more and the state will do less. Kate Stephen will give her perspective on the potential implications for rural communities in Highland and will describe what the DIY approach can look like, warts and all. Clive Sheppard will draw on his experience to describe the role social enterprise can play in rural service delivery.
Kate Stephen has been Project Manager on the O4O: Older People for Older People project and has experience working and volunteering in community development and community care.
Clive Sheppard has extensive experience in the social enterprise sector as a mentor, teacher and practitioner. He sits on the Board of Community Care Assynt which was supported by the O4O project.
2. • Public sector spending – an overview
• Co-production and ‘DIY’
• Community responses
• Some considerations
• The process
3. Some good things about public sector spending:
•Redistribution of income
•Reduces inequality through benefits and services
•Infrastructure investment
•Health and Education (more productive workforce)
•Linked with economic growth (Wagner ‘s Law)
•Peace and stability
•Climate change mitigation
4. Public sector spending cuts:
“the level of savings necessary mean that efficiencies alone
won’t be enough”
Scottish Parliament Finance Committee 2010
£59 m to be saved over next 3 years in Highland Council
(£23m already found £36m still to be found)
“…the majority of people in Scotland (63%) are unaware that
annual public sector cuts as high as £1 billion are predicted in
Scotland over the next three years.”
YouGov poll for RCN (April 2010)
5. “Rural communities are vulnerable to the closure of services
due to the high unit cost of provision
in often geographically remote and isolated areas”
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/09/18163/26180
6. www.scotland.gov.
DEMOGRAPHIC TREND
“In the future,
less working age people
will take care of
more elderly people
with less money”
“Demographic tidal wave”
“Tsunami”
“Massive iceberg”
7. LONG HARD FINANCIAL WINTER
“very difficult choices to be made about priorities
. …where, how, and by how much to cut budgets in
the short and medium term.
But this is not sufficient.
There must also be debate and discussion about
the vision for Scotland's civil society, economy and
public services”
Robert Black, Auditor General for Scotland, letter to the Chair of the Independent Budget Review Panel (June
2010)
8. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT: ‘Big Society’
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT: “… the ability of people to do things for
themselves forms a key plank of the Scottish Government's approach to
delivering a more successful Nation.” (2009)
“A stream of Scottish Executive policy statements …have endorsed the
case for an extended role for the voluntary sector in a mixed service
economy” (2006)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT : (Responsibility for Care and Support)
“Wherever people, families and communities can accept the responsibility
for their own care and support we believe they should. Services may add
to this support – not replace it.”
9. MOTIVATION: Quality
“… if schools were run by non-profit making
companies or charitable trusts they would be
more effective, as they would have more
control over what they do and how they
spend their money.”
“There’s a real problem with government.
Frankly it is no longer really fit for purpose”
Keir Bloomer, former leader of the Association of Directors of Education (Nov 2010)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11715053
10. MOTIVATION: Cost Saving
“We currently pay a lot of money to bus
companies to provide socially necessary
services and there has to be a way of cutting that
expenditure in order to protect those services
… I’m very interested in investigating getting a
greater level of involvement of the community,
particularly where commercial services have
been withdrawn”
Jonathan Findlay, Chairman of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (Nov 2010)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/voluntary-groups-to-run-buses-1.1066567
11. Services delivered
by the
Public Sector
Co-production of
services
Communities
and
Individuals
‘doing it for
themselves’
Model for the Mixed Economy for Service Delivery
Social enterprise /
voluntary sector
?
Private Sector
14. Apathy
Need identified
Ideas for solution and
the will to do something
Action
Success or failure
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/graphics/crowd.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/nov97/drnat11.htm&usg=__GaDPYvXc7odiwvq7a-
WD7NDP7zs=&h=75&w=200&sz=5&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=3l1RtdvJMHJlUM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=160&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcartoon%2Bcrowd%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D790%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C154&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=716&vpy=188&dur=31&hovh=60&hovw=160&tx=102&ty=58&ei=nNzaTK7dB5KI4QaN2tiBCQ&oei=d9zaTOvNHca2hAeT1bXPAg&esq=4&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1276&bih=790
19. Community run services …
•Highland Hospice
•Bradbury Centre
•Glenurquhart Centre
•Howard Doris Centre
•North and West Sutherland Care
Alliance
•Community Care Assynt
… and many more
•Badenoch & Strathspey Community
Transport Company
•T4T
•SW Ross Community Car Scheme
•... and many more
•U3A
•Contact the Elderly
•Village Hall Activities
•Churches
•Social Clubs
•Leisure Centres
•Tai Chi, Dorothy Dobson,
etc
… and many more
The
Scone
Factor
D Hall (2010) The past, present and future of public spending.
Traditional models of public service delivery are increasingly overstretched as a result of:
• Rapidly shrinking resources as a result of depleted public finances
• Rising demand due to social challenges issues such as an ageing population, rising levels of obesity and the prevalence of long-term health conditions.
• Changing public expectations for more personalised, flexible and responsive public services.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/Finance/papers-10/fip10-12.pdf
Scotland’s six cities will form an alliance against what they perceive to be an SNP bias against urban areas, in favour of its bases of political support in rural locations.
http://www.reformscotland.com/index.php/publication/view_details/913/
Factors at play: Demographic Trend
In the eye of the storm? Societal Aging and the future of public service reform. A Roberts (2003)
Prof Jari Iinatti (2010)
Centre for Wireless Communications (Medical communications)
Factors at play: Financial Crisis
Action to cut now … what are the priority services? What do people want the public sector do deliver in the future?
Higher costs (Health care costs are increasing annually by 4% - higher than the rate of economic growth … forecast to be 16% of GDP in 2020)
The Auditor General’s role is to:
examine how public bodies spend public money
make sure they manage their finances to the highest standards
make sure they achieve value for money.
Government response – non partisan.
‘Big Society’: “… where people, in their everyday lives, in their communities, in their homes, on their street … feel both free and empowered to help themselves and help their own communities.”
http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/speeches-and-transcripts/2010/05/pm-and-deputy-pms-speeches-at-big-society-launch-50283
Scottish Policy Innovation Forum, 15th September 2006 Public Service Reform in Scotland Stephen Maxwell Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/03/20155113/3
Highland Council http://www.fhcommunities.org/the-highland-context.asp
Motivations for shifting away from public sector service delivery …
Keir Bloomer is a former leader of the Association of Directors of Education, who has also been an adviser to the Scottish government.
9th November 2010
Herald 8th Nov 2010
Success then depends on central government’s ability to ‘let go’ of the reins of innovation and liberate local innovators to develop new systems that will serve their communities in different – and better – ways, for much lower cost.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/Finance/papers-10/fip10-12.pdf
What needs to change … (resources flow from top down)
Success then depends on central government’s ability to ‘let go’ of the reins of innovation and liberate local innovators to develop new systems that will serve their communities in different – and better – ways, for much lower cost.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/Finance/papers-10/fip10-12.pdf
The Role of Civic Organisations in the Provision of Social Services, UN Uni, Research for Action 37 “Synergy
Co-determination, Co-financing, Co-production
A substitutive or subsidiary relationship based on a mutually acceptable division
of labour in service provision whereby civic organizations take over responsibility
for the provision of certain services which the state cannot or does not want to
provide and there is agreement that civic organizations have a comparative
advantage in the area.
There is in effect a three-dimensional process of 'tatonnement*', simultaneously technical,
institutional and political.
*equilibrium which comes with trial and error
Trust: officials and politicians – keep their word / disclosing information … unrealistic demands / funding cuts
Communication: Jargon / internet & emails
Confidence: Can the volunteers do it / keep doing it / how to control it & guarantee the service
Change: difficult for people who’ve always done it one way to adapt / repercussions at various levels (job descriptions – tasks and hours, facilitating rather than doing)
Response based on the perceived motivation – 2 previous slides
Capacity – volunteer skills … volunteer fatigue
Cohesion – agreement of need for service, critical mass of community to back the service development, people getting on with each other sufficiently to make it work
Other places - Inequity of level of public service delivery / cuts … inspiration from other communities
Confidence – Previous achievement within community … community owned assets
Attitude – Scepticism Negative or Enthusiasm Positive
Some considerations >
It is a process of engagement - building relationships, capacity and confidence: Difficult to predict outcome / responses – unexpected success, unexpected failure
There is no guarantee that what works in one community will work in another duplication
In rural communities, key individuals have greater influence (positive or negative) & the local politics & lack of social cohesion can affect results
Service cut / change is often a catalyst for change from apathy to action
High levels of mistrust & cynicism, sometimes anger, about public sector can exist
Lots of pitfalls in the process but amazing what communities can do when they care.
Change of mindset from disappointment / dissatisfaction at level of service
To
We can do it for ourselves
Tiers of management in the public sector to support the burden of responsibility, decision making and all the processes involved in service delivery
To
Power to the people – unpaid, limited support structure, no specialist departments (HR, Training, Legal) – lack of people to accept the power.
Funding applications / who to go to for advice / policies / rules and regulations
A bit dull, but you know what you’re getting and everyone gets the same (to some extent)
Some fantastic services where local people add much more than a basic service … they care
Or some weaker services (postcode lottery)