Plan for 'John Lewis' public services

Author: The Guardian - Dec 11, 2009

Hospitals and schools would be transformed into John Lewis-style partnerships under radical plans that could form a central plank of Labour's general election manifesto.

Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be allowed to take control of their own affairs if staff and users voted in favour.

According to a senior adviser, the government wants to resuscitate some of the ways services were run before 1945 when local communities were far more involved.

News of the Labour plan comes after David Cameron delivered a speech outlining his vision of the public sector in which control of public services would be devolved to local groups and charities.

Labour's ideas raise the prospect that teachers and parents could have a direct input into the running of their schools, while nurses and patients could be involved in the way hospitals and trusts are governed, bringing a greater degree of mutualism to healthcare than is currently the case in the already notionally mutual Foundation Trust and a more ambitious format for education than the 200 Co-op schools Ed Balls is currently calling for.

As well as being a return to Labour principles, it may also help the public to come to terms with some of the difficulties of providing care at a time when the population is ageing and services are expensive.

The idea also chimes with a mood for a different model for running big organisations, part of the backlash against the culture of irresponsible risk-taking that led to the financial crisis.

Government advisers point out that successful mutuals already see a 4%-to- 5% increase in their productivity – with employee-owners more prepared to whistleblow on the poor performance of staff – at a time of straitened spending on public services.

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