Commissioning barriers to be knocked down with proposed green paper

A green paper to ignite discussions about the creation of a level playing for civil society organisations delivering public services is planned by the coalition government by the end of the year.

At a public services summit at No 11 Downing Street yesterday, cabinet office minister Francis Maude, joined by civil society minister Nick Hurd and decentralisation minister Greg Cark, pledged swift action on better commissioning and support.

Maude said he wanted to see a mix of public service providers, including frontline staff-led co-ops and new partnerships with both government and the private sector, which he hailed as the ‘Big Society approach’.

The commissioning green paper, which the government said it intends to publish later this year, will inform a public service reform white paper next year.

The summit also announced ‘continuous investment’ in a programme of training public service commissioners, which the cabinet office claims has already seen 2,000 commissioners trained since it started in 2006.

Maude said: ‘In the past, huge amounts of money have gone in to public services and been swallowed up by bureaucracy before it reached the frontline. A Big Society approach will drive improvements by giving power to people working on the ground who know how to do things better.

‘I want to see a whole mix of providers. New models like public sector staff forming co-ops to run their services and civil society organisations forming new alliances with government and the private sector can drive this change. They will break down the old fashioned public service hierarchies and replace them with vibrant, efficient services that give people the support they need.’

Clark said that the government wanted toopen up public services ‘so the best providers get the job’ and Hurd said the green paper would help the government ‘sort out’ barriers stopping civil society organsiations delivering more public services.

‘The commissioning green paper will kick-start a radical shift in public service contracting so only the most innovative approaches to win through,’ Hurd said.

‘We know that there are too many barriers for civil society organisations that want to deliver public services and we are determined to sort them out. I’m very pleased that we can continue training public services commissioners in working with civil society, better understanding in this area will be critical to our success.’

The ministers also reiterated the opportunity for funding through the £1.4bn regional growth fund.