Our statement on the Public Services White Paper

David Cameron has revealed new plans for opening up public services to bids from charities, community groups and companies in the Open Public Services White Paper.

The White Paper aims to deliver "more freedom, more choice and more local control" by applying five principles of choice, decentralisation, diversity, fairness and accountability.

Our Chief Executive, Sir Stuart Etherington, said:

‘This paper is a useful start in looking at the tasks ahead. We want to see a smart, effective and innovative commissioning system which values what all sectors can bring to the table and has the interests of service users and communities at its heart. There needs to be a major overhaul of commissioning to ensure a level playing field for all providers.

‘NCVO has never argued that voluntary organisations have an automatic right to deliver publicly funded services, or that we should deliver public services without considering whether this is best for users. But we do believe the sector can deliver services that users want and need. Voluntary and community organisations already have a strong track record in delivering public services, with particular expertise in working with excluded and disadvantaged communities. However, there are long-standing obstacles which this paper needs to tackle urgently if the sector is to fully deliver on this potential. 

‘First and foremost, the concept of social value needs to be mainstreamed, taken seriously and well understood. Rather than assessing providers purely on price, commissioning decisions should be informed by the full social, environmental and economic value a service can add. There remain significant other concerns – including the size of contracts, where all but the biggest providers are often excluded.

‘Access to finance and cash flow is another major barrier denying voluntary organisations from taking on a greater role in service delivery. The Big Society Bank is a positive step towards remedying this, but will not be able to provide finance to the whole sector.  There is an ongoing need for a range of grants, loans and contracts to make services accessible and sustainable.

‘We are pleased that the Government has acknowledged that whilst Payment By Results and competition have potential, that neither of those are ends in themselves when considering public services. In the case of payments by results, we agree with the principle of rewards for high quality performance. However, some NCVO members have expressed concern about its implementation.

'We will be building our response to Government from the views of our members.'

Our ongoing policy review is helping us build a clear picture of where we should focus our lobbying efforts, so please feed in your thoughts on public services and any other issues that are important to you and your beneficiaries.

Our policy team will also be providing a detailed analysis of the paper within the next few days. 

Visit the Cabinet Office website for more information and to download the Opening Public Services White Paper (PDF 589KB).