The Article "All Together Now: David Cameron Searches for his Council House Moment," published February 18th in the Economist, discusses several plans Conservative leader David Cameron has for reforming the public service sector. Mr. Cameron has repeatedly stated his support for devolution in the UK. He recently announced a plan to publish online a list of all government contracts over 25,000 pounds. This would allow other businesses to better compete for future contracts, and would potentially save the government a huge amount of money. Critics wonder whether Conservatives are prepared for the level of transparency this will bring to government.
Less than a week after this announcement, Mr. Cameron went public with a plan to allow public-sector organizations to be run cooperatively by the employees. This means that "nurses could manage their clinics, job advisers take over their employment offices, and teachers run their schools." The state set certain goals and requirements for the cooperatives to ensure basic standards are met. One big question largely remains unanswered, however. Tories have said little about what they will do when some of the cooperatively run services inevitably fail.
This article demonstrates the concept of public policy and change in government. If the conservatives win in the upcoming election, it seems extremely likely that the current trend of devolution in British politics will be taken even farther. The implications of decentralization are huge, especially in an area as important as public services.
Picture courtesy of the Economist
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Less than a week after this announcement, Mr. Cameron went public with a plan to allow public-sector organizations to be run cooperatively by the employees. This means that "nurses could manage their clinics, job advisers take over their employment offices, and teachers run their schools." The state set certain goals and requirements for the cooperatives to ensure basic standards are met. One big question largely remains unanswered, however. Tories have said little about what they will do when some of the cooperatively run services inevitably fail.
This article demonstrates the concept of public policy and change in government. If the conservatives win in the upcoming election, it seems extremely likely that the current trend of devolution in British politics will be taken even farther. The implications of decentralization are huge, especially in an area as important as public services.
Picture courtesy of the Economist
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