12 July 2011
The Open Public Services White Paper, published on Monday, will mean “more freedom, more choice and more local control” of public services according to the Prime Minister.
The Cabinet Office says, “This means giving people more direct control over the services they use, for example through personal budgets in healthcare.”
The National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) issued a statement saying there needs to be an overhaul of local services commissioning but that: “First and foremost, the concept of social value needs to be mainstreamed, taken seriously and well understood. Rather than assessing providers purely on price, commissioning decisions should be informed by the full social, environmental and economic value a service can add. There remain significant other concerns – including the size of contracts, where all but the biggest providers are often excluded.”
Consultation on the White Paper will be through events and via feedback through the Open Public Services website by mid September.
