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| Why mutualism is the way forward for public services | Tessa Jowell By bringing together employees and users of public services we can embed accountabilityThe sudden onset of worldwide economic turbulence and the parliamentary expenses scandal have had immediate and visible effects on public confidence in the institutions involved. In the wake of the credit crunch, the public have made it very clear that they are unwilling to put their trust in the large financial organisations which, they now believe, were not run in their interests or those of the wider society, and operated too far outside their control.And, since the expenses scandal, the public have signalled the need for a wide-ranging democratic renewal, so that they will have more influence over, and more trust in, those who decide on the issues that matter to them most.Public services are not immune from this mood. In the recent past their providers have learned a lot by importing lessons from the private sector. In particular, the focus on citizens as consumers with the right – and the ability – to exercise choice over the services provided to them has been important in driving up standards. On the demand side, therefore, there has been a loosening of the old constraints, and the habit of accepting whatever is offered is declining.But on the supply side, we need to do more than hold up the model of the relentlessly managed plc. We should look instead at other successful ways of delivering goods and services. There are important lessons to be learned from studying how the Co-op and John Lewis work, companies owned, respectively, by their customers and their staff.Public services exist to serve, and are paid for by, the public, so it is the public that has the right to influence how those services are delivered, to build shared responsibility for them, and improve them by harnessing the efforts of both professionals and those they serve.Indeed, can we really expect citizens to take on greater responsibility for their own health, learning, and environmental impact, if public services fail to give them the right to shape the ways in which they deliver them? We can. By bringing users, employees, and others together as mutual members of the provider organisation we can successfully get to grips with the supply side of public service.Whether it's the 390 members of the Reddish Vale Co-operative Trust taking ownership of their school; or the staff at Leicester City primary care trust who have taken over general medical and substance misuse services for homeless people; or 1.3 million members of 122 NHS foundation trusts, mutualism – the ownership of an organisation by those who work in and manage it and also, when it is sensible, by those who use its services – transforms internal culture, and helps to embed real democratic accountability and a renewed sense of community responsibility.When a public service is mutually owned, we know staff feel that they are leading the reform process, rather than having it imposed upon them. This turns them into champions of improvement and reform, enhances feelings of solidarity and responsibility and makes staff more willing to co-operate for the common goal.Of course, mutualism cannot be prescribed by government. By its very nature, it is driven by and relies on the commitment and active participation of the people involved. Communities need to be able to choose mutualism as and when they see fit. What government can do is sponsor and provide a legal framework that makes mutualism a practical proposition in the delivery of any public service. How we make that come about will be top of the agenda for the new, independent Commission on Ownership, which I am announcing tomorrow.Chaired by Will Hutton, it will work to enhance our understanding of the influence that forms of ownership and management have on the governance of our country. And it will seek to answer the big questions: how much does ownership matter? What is the link between fairness and ownership and how does that affect the distribution of power in our country? And what can, and should, government do about ownership?Since the credit crunch and expenses crisis, how services and institutions are run has become more important to us all. Now we need to decide – as citizens and users – just how involved we really want to be.Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP is delivering the Progress lecture, The Mutual Moment: How Progressives Can Capture the Ownership AgendaPublic services policyNHSEducation policyFinancial crisisCredit crunchTessa Jowellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Hundreds Attend Public Hearing on Plan to Transfer Guantanamo Detainees to US Prison Supporters and opponents of a plan to transfer about 100 detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in the U.S. state of Illinois attended a public hearing on the matter Tuesday. www1.voanews.com |
Spanish supermarkets get cocaine delivery in banana boxes Drug smugglers appear to have made a major slip-up, after huge quantities of cocaine were delivered to supermarkets in Spain hidden in boxes of bananas. news.bbc.co.uk |
UN Says At Least 16 Personnel Killed in Haiti Quake Of the fatalities that 11 were Brazilian peacekeepers, three police officers from Jordan and one each from Argentina and Chad www1.voanews.com |
Auschwitz blueprints go on display in Israel JERUSALEM (AP) -- The neat lines and red rectangular sketches look like any typical architectural design. But the handwritten initials H.H. - belonging to the infamous Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler - indicate what the drawings represent: wooden barracks, gas chambers and crematoria.... hosted.ap.org |