Fishburn Hedges

05.10.2011

There’s been much debate about reforming public services at the Conservative Party Conference this week. But as Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, noted, too often it feels like the Establishment talking to itself.

So amongst the numerous fringe meetings on public service reform, it was good to see one, hosted by the RSA, that looked at how to engage the public on these crucial issues.

Ben Page, IpsosMORI’s impressive chief exec, unveiled some fascinating polling on the public’s attitude to public service reform.   He highlighted that much of the public doesn’t care who delivers services.  All they want is access to good schools or hospitals, although there are stubborn minorities that are strongly opposed to private sector delivery of NHS care, for example.

Not surprisingly, Lansley seized on this, arguing that the public will embrace change as long as you can present evidence that it’s going to work.

But the research also highlights a challenge for communicators and policymakers, namely that the public service professions remain the most trusted in Britain. Teachers, doctors, judges, professors and the police are generally trusted to tell the truth (journalists take note: 29 per cent of the public still trust bankers, whereas only 19 per cent trust the fourth estate). It is often those public service professionals who frame the debate on reform, and as Page noted, they are frequently critical of reforms and are believed by the public.

Given this, how should the Government communicate its reform plans?

As Lansley found to his cost when introducing his health reforms, listening to the professions remains key.  At the RSA event, he argued that the establishment of the NHS Future Forum, which made recommendations to improve the controversial Health and Social Care Bill, was decisive because it had a degree of independence from Government with greater credibility than a typical Government consultation. Intriguingly, he also suggested that the Government was learning from the Future Forum approach, so we may see similar models of consultation being applied in the future.

But listening and consulting will only go so far.  To govern is to choose, and politicians cannot always expect to take the professionals with them. However, they can change the nature and tone of the conversation.

As Dr Jennifer Dixon from the Nuffield Trust pointed out, policymakers won’t get anywhere if they talk about abstract concepts of reform.

Frontline professionals and the public (‘end-users’ in the technocrat’s language) rarely care about technical policy ideas like contestability, competition, diversity of supply and choice – they want high-quality services.

Politicians should ditch the management jargon and start communicating about reform in a way that employees and the public relate to, whether that’s about tackling crime or improving health and schools.  To convince, you have to speak the same language as your audience.