Latest Public Sector News

Conservatives win election – their public sector policies in full

The Conservatives will form the next government with a working majority, and so are in a position to put their manifesto into action.

Some of the party’s plans could result in big changes to the public sector. Below is a summary of their manifesto pledges:

• “We will legislate to ensure that every public sector worker operating in a customer-facing role must speak fluent English.”
• “We will end taxpayer-funded six-figure payoffs for the best paid public sector workers.”
• “We will find £13bn from departmental savings, the same rate of reduction as in this Parliament.”
• “We will make volunteering for three days a year a workplace entitlement for people working in large companies and the public sector.”
• “We will promote localism by allowing councils to keep a higher proportion of the business rates revenue that is generated in their area.”
• “Strikes should only ever be the result of a clear, positive decision based on a ballot in which at least half the workforce has voted. This turnout threshold will be an important and fair step to rebalance the interests of employers, employees, the public and the rights of trade unions.”
• “We will, in addition, tackle the disproportionate impact of strikes in essential public services by introducing a tougher threshold in health, education, fire and transport. Industrial action in these essential services would require the support of at least 40% of all those entitled to take part in strike ballots – as well as a majority of those who actually turn out to vote.”
• “We will also repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes; and ensure strikes cannot be called on the basis of ballots conducted years before.”
• “We will help public libraries to support local communities by providing free wi-fi.”
• “We have reduced the cost of government, by selling empty buildings, managing big projects better, shrinking the Civil Service, reforming pensions, moving more services online, and improving contracting. We plan a further £10bn annual savings by 2017-18 and £15-20bn in 2019-20. We will push ahead with reform of the Civil Service to make it more dynamic and streamlined. We will make recruitment to the Civil Service more open and actively look for exceptional talent, especially in areas where capabilities are in short supply.”
• “We have supported the growth of public service mutuals – organisations that are owned by their staff and deliver public services. We want more of them, so we will guarantee a ‘right to mutualise’ within the public sector.”
• “We will implement the NHS’s own plan to improve health care even further – the Five Year Forward View.”
• “We are able to commit to increasing NHS spending in England in real terms by a minimum of £8bn over the next five years.”
• “We will increase support for fulltime unpaid carers.”
• “We will guarantee that you will not have to sell your home to fund your residential social care.”
• “We will enforce the new access and waiting time standards for people experiencing mental ill-health, including children and young people.”
• “We will enforce the new access and waiting time standards for people experiencing mental ill-health, including children and young people.”
• “We will extend the Right to Buy to Housing Association tenants.”
• “We will fund the replacement of properties sold under the extended Right to Buy by requiring local authorities to manage their housing assets more efficiently.”
• “We aim at least to double the number of custom-built and self-built homes by 2020.”
• “We will not raise VAT, National Insurance contributions or Income Tax.”
• “We will raise the 40p Income Tax threshold to £50,000.”
• “We will find £12bn from welfare savings.”
• “We will raise at least £5bn from continuing to tackle tax evasion.”
• “We will replace the Jobseeker’s Allowance for 18-21 year-olds with a Youth Allowance that will be time-limited to six months, after which young people will have to take an apprenticeship, a traineeship or do daily community work for their benefits.”
• “We will ensure that 18 to 21-year-olds no longer have an automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit.”
• “We will freeze working age benefits for two years from April 2016, with exemptions for disability and pensioner benefits – as at present – as well as maternity allowance, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay and statutory sick pay.”
• “We will deliver Universal Credit, in order to provide the right incentives for people to work.”
• “We will provide significant new support for mental health, benefiting thousands of people claiming out-of-work benefits or being supported by Fit for Work.”
• “We will negotiate with the EU to introduce stronger powers to deport criminals and stop them coming back, and tougher and longer re-entry bans for all those who abuse free movement.”
• “We want to toughen requirements for non-EU spouses to join EU citizens, including with an income threshold and English language test.”
• “We have introduced a ‘deport first, appeal later’ rule for foreign national offenders. We will now remove even more illegal immigrants by extending this rule to all immigration appeals and judicial reviews, including where a so-called right to family life is involved, apart from asylum claims.”
• “We will legislate to ensure trade unions use a transparent opt-in process for subscriptions to political parties.”
• “We will save you time, hassle and money by moving more services online, while actively tackling digital exclusion.”
• “We will ensure digital assistance is always available for those who are not online, while rolling out cross-government technology platforms to cut costs and improve productivity.”
• “We will address the unfairness of the current Parliamentary boundaries, reduce the number of MPs to 600 to cut the cost of politics and make votes of more equal value.”
• “We will introduce votes for life, scrapping the rule that bars British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting.”
• “We will help local authorities keep council tax low for hardworking taxpayers, and ensure residents can continue to veto high rises via a local referendum.”
• “We will encourage voluntary integration of services and administration between and within councils – for example, with the Troubled Families Programme and the Better Care Fund – to promote savings and improve local services.”
• “We will review how we can further reduce ring-fencing and remove Whitehall burdens to give councils more flexibility to support local services.”
• “The next Conservative Government will scrap the Human Rights Act, and introduce a British Bill of Rights.”
• “We will continue devolution settlements for Scotland and Wales, and implement the Stormont House Agreement in Northern Ireland.”
• “We will give English MPs a veto over English-only matters, including on Income Tax – answering the West Lothian Question.”
• “We will change parliamentary procedures so that the detail of legislation affecting only England or England and Wales will be considered by a Committee drawn in proportion to party strength in England or England and Wales.”
• “We will add a new stage to how English legislation is passed; no bill or part of a bill relating only to England would be able to pass to its Third Reading and become law without being approved through a legislative consent motion by a Grand Committee made up of all English MPs, or all English and Welsh MPs.”
• “We will extend the principle of English consent to financial matters such as how spending is distributed within England and to taxation – including an English rate of Income Tax – when the equivalent decisions have been devolved to Scotland.”
• “We will legislate in the first session of the next Parliament for an in-out referendum to be held on Britain’s membership of the EU before the end of 2017.”

The April/May 2015 edition of PSE is now available for FREE using the new PSE App, available on iOS and Android. Search ‘Public Sector’ in the App Store / Google Play.