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New plans give public control of services
Prime Minister David Cameron has called for individuals and local communities to be given more control over public services as part of reforms to help increase freedom and choice.
In a speech on 11 July, Cameron said public services such as leisure and recreation facilities are operated under a "take-what-you're-given" culture that fails to enhance life quality. It follows the publication of a new White Paper - Open Public Services - setting out the government's approach to reforming the provision of public services.
According to the government, people should have more control over services. Meanwhile, it has been proposed that services be opened up to more providers and be more accountable. Cameron said: "I know what our public services can do and how they are the backbone of this country. But I know too that the way they have been run for decades - old-fashioned, top-down, take-what-you're-given - is just not working for a lot of people.
"Public services were centralised with all the right intentions: to drive progress through from on high, to keep tabs on how that progress was going with targets and rules and inspections. But the impact of this has been incredibly damaging." Alan Downey, head of KPMG's public sector business, said: "What the government needs to do next is to specify which services are to be opened up and how the principle of competition will be put into effect.
"As always, setting out the strategy is the easy bit. The hard work will come when the ideals of the White Paper are put into practice." Image: cycreation/shutterstock.com