" It's time for our business and political leaders to help redefine morality beyond sex, drugs, and rock and roll to include lying, hypocrisy, and callous indifference to those in need." Arianna Huffington
As we face the next 30 days of electioneering - public services are facing their biggest challenge for at least a generation. But will we have a real discussion. Capital and revenue spending in the public sector.We understand both are under pressure.
Real life is clearer when walking on mountains.We need more shepherds and not managers in politics.Walking on the mountains of Wales over Easter demonstrated what excellent husbandry is around on our farms.Lambing is in full flow. Gates in use. Stocks are healthy. Lambs are in need as the weather was not kind.Elwyn the Farmer on the edge of the Sugar Loaf said, as he allowed to us to park on his farm, " Can't believe the media and TV these days even the weather forecast is not real - all I know is that it is a different world to the reality of where we live". He had seventy more lambs on the way after the five hundred already born.He gave you confidence.He knew his land and his vocation.
The figures in the recent Wales Audit Office report show that public services in Wales face significant reductions in their budgets in the coming years. Although the exact scale remains unclear, a real terms reduction of around £0.5 billion a year seems likely and significantly sharper reductions are not unthinkable.
According to the WAO public services need to move beyond being alert and start to take action now. Public services are going to have to deal with major change very soon. We all know including the WAO that public services tend to change incrementally over time. But if they carry on with business as usual, they will simply run out of money.
Change will come one way or another. The challenge will be getting those changes right with good planning and timely decision making.
The WAO says "Public services need to start preparing themselves for the coming changes immediately. That means looking at different ways of delivering services with a focus on new and innovative ways of working in order to maintain and improve outcomes for citizens. It also means using evidence to identify priorities and refocusing resources away from non-priority areas. Just focusing on costs is not going to be enough.Arbitrary, top-slicing of budgets could make the impact of reduced income very much more detrimental than it needs to be, because it takes no account of the priority of services and the impact on those who need public services the most.The lessons from our work over the past five years show that public services will need to base their responses around:
* a sustainable strategic approach that is well thought through, based on sound analysis of
evidence, links financial and delivery planning and sets out a robust approach to measuring
progress towards outcomes;
*an approach to collaboration that is focused on delivering shared outcomes from a citizen
perspective;
* a mature approach to risk that balances the need for robust governance and management with
the need for public services to take calculated and well-managed risks in order to change and
improve services;
* getting the best from the many people who work in public services, including flexible and smarter
ways of working; and
* a more comprehensive and radical approach to efficiency that focuses on innovation and
improving outcomes rather than just cost-cutting.”
The directness of Ms Huffington's statement should be reminder that there are real lives affected by public officials and they deserve better including our real shepherds.
Picture Pen Y Fan from the Sugar Loaf in the Brecon Beacons - Easter 2010
