1. Public service reform: international experience Tom Bentley Policy Network, July 5 th 2007

2. - 1 - Australia: ahead of and behind the UK Third Way before Clinton or Blair Strong private and voluntary sectors Federal system promotes policy diversity and fragmentation High performing but often inequitable services and outcomes Changing economic and demographic pressures Partial reform consensus

3. - 2 - The challenge of contemporary reform Mixed economy of provision Growing social diversity and inequality High public expectations, but uncertain legitimacy of state intervention Complex, fragmented agency and government responsibilities Constrained fiscal environment Growing cost and demand pressures

4. - 3 - Strengths and weaknesses of a federal system Competitive tax and investment regimes Diversity of approach Movement of knowledge, professionals, practical approaches Grounded city-states Vertical fiscal imbalance: Competing goals and methods Lack of collaborative incentives Remote federal government

5. - 4 - Simultaneous priorities States School standards and workforce development Public hospital demand management and waiting list initiatives Neigbourhood renewal programmes Expanding TAFE Commonwealth Pupil subsidy for independent sector Penalty tax on those not taking out private insurance Incentivising private home ownership Creating new training markets

6. - 5 - Challenges Ageing Workforce participation and productivity Shifting disease burden Cost and demand management Community cohesion Suburban sprawl Systemic failure for Aboriginal communities Answer = public service productivity?

7. - 6 - Core challenges for public services Expectations gap Fiscal constraints Workforce alienation Fragmentation, reorganisation, complexity Weak voice and transparency

8. - 7 - Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index)

9. - 8 - Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index) high low high

10. - 9 - Stasis (survival mode) Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index) high low high

11. - 10 - Stasis (survival mode)Segregation (market share mode) Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index) high low high

12. - 11 - Command and control (temporary override mode) Stasis (survival mode)Segregation (market share mode) Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index) high low high

13. - 12 - Command and control (temporary override mode) Alignment? (self sustaining mode) Stasis (survival mode)Segregation (market share mode) Diversity of provision (Legrand scale) Clarity of objective, coherence of delivery chain (Barber index) high low high

14. - 13 - Integrating high performance and high differentiation But what system capabilities are needed to make the combination successful? Four things stand out: 1Combining experience and outcome in definition of service quality 2Behaviour change through co-production and shared responsibility 3Promoting coherence in pluralised local systems 4Serious innovation strategies

15. - 14 - Experience and outcome Need to embed responsiveness in measures of effectiveness New sources of feedback, transparency Elements of Varney Review focusing on service redesign, personalisation Crucial link is between individual cases of personalisation and wider organisational incentives;

16. - 15 - Coproduction needs to tap underlying user motivation Reasons for internalising responsibility are rarely as simply as economic incentive or threat of sanction: Focus on client encounters; private value alongside public. All cases of co production draw on multiple sources of motivation: Sanctions Material rewards Intrinsic rewards Sociality (eg self-policing of antisocial behaviour) Expressive values (eg believing that norms are expressed in govt action) Only specific service strategies which draw on them appropriately will sustain or strengthen individual contributions to better outcomes. J Alford, 2002, Administration and Society

17. - 16 - Learning Practices Individual choices, aspirations Identities, collective belonging Organisational regime and leadership Innovation, R&D Systems State powers to coerce, redistribute, intervene Local communities Policy, regulation, inspection, audit Local Governance Institutions Market Bridging networks

18. - 17 - Elements of successful innovation systems Identifying opportunities Creating knowledge Developing new production capabiliities and organisations Sharing risk Building infrastructure

19. - 18 - Talking points 1experience and outcome define quality 2shared responsibility requires focus on user and workforce motivation 3coherence in diverse systems needs new methods and capabilities 4Innovation systems are central to successful delivery