The UK Experience by Malcolm Morley*
In January’s article I detailed two of the four important reports produced in the run up to Christmas in England. The remaining two reports I said that I would cover this month are Lord Leitch’s report, ‘Prosperity for all in the Global Economy: World Class Skills’ and Sir David Varney’s report, Service Transformation: a Better Service For Citizens and Businesses, a Better Deal for Taxpayers. Both reports have significant implications for Local Government.
The Leitch Report examines the UK’s long term skills needs. It sets out stretching targets for 2020 which, if achieved, would make the UK a world leader in skills.
The UK’s skills base is weaker than those in other developed economies, for example:
- out of 30 OECD countries, the UK lies 17th on low skills, 20th on intermediate skills and 11th on high skills
- five million adults in the UK lack functional literacy
- 17 million adults in the UK have difficulty with numbers
- more than one in six young people leave school unable to read, write or add up properly.
Councils are responsible for the education of young people and they have a key role to play in life long learning opportunities. They must make sure that there is consistency of high quality opportunities for people to fulfil their educational potential. In pursuing the regeneration of their areas they must also ensure that educational attainment and skills acquisition are pursued in tandem with physical infrastructure improvements.
Sir David Varney’s report identifies major opportunities to strengthen public service delivery – to make it more accessible, convenient and efficient to meet changing citizen and business expectations. It throws down the challenge to the public sector to deliver better public services through joining up service provision across the public sector, and by engaging more directly with users in the design and delivery of services.
In launching his report Sir David said, “Over the next ten years there are opportunities to provide better public services at a lower cost to the taxpayer. If the Government takes these opportunities, then I believe the UK can create a world class public service economy with interactions with citizens and businesses that deliver real value and resolve problems first time.”
The aspirations in the Varney Report can only be achieved if both the public sector, and the public being served, have the willingness and ability to embrace change and the skills necessary to exploit the opportunities available.
There is a direct link with the Leitch Report.
The public sector, and Councils in particular, have significant difficulties in recruiting and retaining key people with the appropriate education and skills mix. New technology enabled ‘solutions’ requiring the public to adopt new ways of interaction with the Council/public sector often struggle in areas of social deprivation where educational attainment/skills levels are low.
As a software engineer once told me: ‘Anything is technologically possible if you’ve got the time and money to invest in its development. The real challenge is to get people to use and to exploit the development to its full potential.’
*Malcolm Morley is Chief Executive of Harlow District Council and can be contacted via the Editor, email info@lgfocus.com.au The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of his employer.
