01.08.14
Stones still unturned
Source: Public Sector Executive Aug/Sept 2014
England’s ‘Core Cities’ are becoming increasingly confident and aggressive in their calls for more powers, freedoms and budgetary control. Government rhetoric has long been on their side, and indeed as PSE was going to press the chancellor, George Osborne, turned up in Manchester to endorse the One North infrastructure proposal from an alliance of northern cities.
As with so much else with this Coalition government, that rhetoric (stronger in the early days) has been a few hefty steps ahead of the reality. The various city deals, growth funds and local enterprise partnerships have helped – and some city regions have helped themselves, too, by forming strong and united ‘combined authorities’, including Greater Manchester and across Merseyside. But although the government accepted the majority of Lord Heseltine’s ‘No Stone Unturned’ city powers recommendations, and said it shares his vision of “increasing the decentralisation of economic powers in England from central government to local leaders, who are best-placed to understand the opportunities and obstacles to growth in their own communities”, in practice most still feel constrained. Extra money has been hard-won and clawed back from the government, to spend on infrastructure and skills and growth, but the relationship is still master-servant, with the government carefully reviewing local plans and then making decisions from on high about what can be redistributed.
Change takes time, and the steps have at least been in the right direction.
For a good example of what can happen when a unified and passionate team of people are left to get on with it, have a look at our Crossrail interview on page 40. The winner of the ‘Excellence in the Public Sector’ award at the inaugural Investors in People Awards – PSE’s own Roy Rowlands was a judge for the awards and presented two of the trophies at the event – has a great tale to tell. The other shortlisted entrants are worth hearing from too, and you can read our interview with Chelmsford City Council’s HR manager Florence Agyei on page 42, and an article by the DVLA’s Phil Bushby on page 43.
Other topics we turn our attention to in this edition of PSE include policy implementation (page 24), social care and the Better Care Fund (from page 20) and the government’s major new push on electric vehicles, including an interview with transport minister Baroness Kramer on page 55.
Last but not least, our ‘Last Word’ contributor this issue is professional development consultant and trainer Snéha Khilay, who examines the issue of unconscious bias and low-level but insidious sexism in the workplace. The public sector generally has a better reputation on this than, say, small businesses – but there is still a long way to go.
Adam Hewitt
Editor