The future of public services is, er, private?

Last weeks annual review of the NHS in which its Chief Executive, David Nicholson said, “I cannot imagine an NHS service in 10 years’ time that does not have significantly more private engagement at almost every level” and the Scottish Government’s much awaited proposal for a Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) to replace PFI north of the border, have at least one thing in common: both rely on private sector engagement to manage or invest in public services.

The inevitable challenges posed by an aging population and the need to renew public infrastructure through investment are conspiring to produce solutions based on diversity rather than the ‘public sector provides’ model of the past, including public, private and third sector solutions. This will produce a more sustainable and resilient future for public services, which can only be better for the public.

Moreover, the process of crystallizing the SFT is interesting in itself. A SNP manifesto flagship commitment, it was to be a new model of funding public service investment that removed private sector profits. In the event, some 12 months on, it will include private sector investment, much to the annoyance if its original supporters who have denounced the plan as a broken election promise.

Perhaps there is a law of reality here; that as a country we can’t afford to fund the historic model of public service delivery where services were delivered to grateful and passive recipients (the ‘post-box’ model) and that we need to share the management of the consequences across the economy. In today’s world, diversity is the only route to public service survival and renewal.

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