There is no need to wait for the General Election

Concerns about effective delivery of environmental services are likely to increase as policy makers look at prospect of a General Election sometime in 2010 if not sooner. Service providers may also be asked to adopt new agendas to respond to forthcoming manifesto challenges. What is going to be different than the critical debate that customers have already had so far? Also, will customers be able to lead on the agenda this time around? How can customers be involved in leading the forthcoming debate, if indeed there will be one, on local authorities’ capacity to improve critical services generally classified under ‘environmental services’? References to specific case studies and views of providers and beneficiaries of specific service providers should help to enhance critical debate. We also wish to set up an Online Customer Panel, which will evaluate the emerging debate, if not lead it through a web-based presence.

Would you be interested in making a contribution? The Campaign for Customer Entitlement is interested in providing insightful analysis through critical reviews aimed at understanding and evaluating the criteria and rationale used by policy makers and top managers for providing and monitoring these services. The focus of attention will be on public services covering the most contentious areas of public interest, normally described as the Environmental Services group, covering the following services:

o Parking services,
o Waste management and recycling,
o Highways maintenance and
o Closed circuit television.

However, in contrast, two other services will also be examined to show how the customers’ expectations for radical change do not just stop there. Service users are also demanding urgent review of the way customer services ‘desks’ and support services for elderly clients are managed. These ‘contrasting’ services have been selected for two reasons – elderly users of customer service support centres are less vocal but can become equally concerned. In the case of elderly services, there will be greater coverage of elderly ‘linklines’ or electronic alarm services which respond to urgent demands for client services in their homes or other dwellings. In general, elderly clients tend to be docile and forgiving, many of their relatives and supporters tend to have serious concerns with the way services are provided. It is useful to examine some of the pertinent details relating to environmental services:

Parking services also comprising traffic management and control.

Are councils with large parking services departments getting to grip with the critical issues relating to customer satisfaction? Customer complaints have been escalating. Local and national media continue to report on increasing levels of customer concerns. Have the councils formulated the best mix of strategies, set up the most viable structures and invested in mechanisms for delivery? Recent experience and Press coverage suggests that in many cases councils have been overwhelmed by demand and have failed to develop efficient business models to respond to the parking problem. What does the customer expect and how are their needs going to be met?

Waste Management and Recycling.

What have the Councils learnt from Best Value? Was this just a very costly exercise both for the councils and the Audit Commission? Reports from the Best Value inspections do provide useful insights. There are many critical findings, which should inform a focused but potentially hostile debate. Is it true that only a few councils have benefited from inspections? Are most of council run parking services still unaffected by best value criteria? Is it true that the Audit Commission did not select parking as a key service worthy of inspection? Some of the key questions for future analysis are:

·       Have the heads of parking services been encouraged to ask to the right questions – where their services are, where they want to be and how they must get there?
o Are parking managers challenging policy makers to get the best support? How are they supporting their arguments? What is their business case?

·       Do local politicians actually know the gaps in parking resources that they need to fund? Have they been kept well informed?

·       How has the Audit Commission responded to the outcomes for the first phase of inspections? Does it have plans to publish analyses of aggregate results which may impact on parking planning and provision in the future?

Highways Management and Maintenance.

The media, particularly the BBC has been highlighting critical problems but only on a piecemeal basis. Currently they have been featuring the cost of poorly maintained roads and how users are sustaining damage to their vehicles. There are has been no analysis of the key issues. Critical questions about resolution of the problems remain to be asked.

Service Portfolios relating to services for the elderly.

We are living in an ageing society and any service that impacts on the quality of life of elderly people is a critical service and worthy of critical evaluation. While a number of councils have been partially successful in making changes they have not maximised the benefits of reviews. Newham Council appears to have taken the lead in challenging their alarm service, developing viable business plans and creating a basis for optimal funding. A number of others are reviewing the future of their services. Two case studies are under consideration and likely to be presented for detailed analysis, subject to permissions being granted by the service provider, namely Bexley and Greenwich Councils. In one case, a council commissioned seven different reviews of one of their elderly people’s services. All review reports but one made the same recommendations which were not implemented. Two clients were reported to have died but apart from some superficial action, the dismissal of staff was seen as a sufficient solution. What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for maintaining successful link line services? The technology is changing and the service providers also need to take into account the needs of clients, NHS trusts, voluntary agencies, private sector providers and indeed potential funders and collaborators who may support programmes for outsourcing the services.

Customer Services Management.

Most council services have invested heavily in providing access to services and setting up ‘one stop shops’, reportedly ‘transformational’ service response systems and invested in customer response mechanisms supported by major investment. Have these service upgrades worked? What are the most critical questions that have remained unanswered?

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV).

Recent reports from police authorities suggest that CCTV has failed both as a deterrent and in recording crime to a standard that would result in higher levels of public safety. What has failed, how and why? CCTV is a major ‘industry’ that is supported by highly effective technologies. Many British suppliers have produced adaptable technology and support services. However, in one council it was suggested that half of the camera investment of £2 million had been wasted. Fifty percent of the cameras were either not working or recording crime. Many cameras schemes in car parks have failed to realise benefits. It would seem that there are three central areas of conflict as far as policy is concerned:

a)       There is a high level of fragmentation- councils prefer to exercise control over relatively small geographical areas when some of the solutions may favour economies of scale arising from installing cross-borough systems. Will councils opt to give up control in favour of value for money?

 

b)       Technology is changing fast, with new parking innovations offering more value for money. Councils are understandably finding it very hard to keep up with the pace of technology. What is needed is a new way of creating access to technology. More on this later.

 

c)        CCTV, when connected to parking services is an income generator for councils. Is there a conflict between preserving income versus providing the best service?

CCTV is a highly ‘capital hungry’ service and most service managers tend to seek highly proactive approaches to configure their services in a climate where finance directors and policy makers are cutting budgets. The latter also tend to make ‘promises’ to constituents to install cameras, thereby creating the expectation that the presence of a camera will automatically deter crime. How can councils make some inroads into the very complex problem of ascertaining what is the optimal capital investment for CCTV assets? In London alone, on the average a council could be spending £1 million a year on its CCTV services. Noting the difference in camera intensity and configuration between outer London and inner London boroughs and the resulting impact of staffing, it is estimated that CCTV revenue and capital budgets vary from £2 million to £15 million per year- suggesting an average CCTV budget of £5 million per council. Questions: Is London’s estimated fixed cost investment of around £150 million effectively utilised? Further, are annual estimated staffing budgets of £20 million for the London boroughs used to provide full public benefit?

These examples should suffice but highlight the fact that there is a need for extensive research into policy and how all the above services are organised to sustain various conclusions that will inform the public debate in the next two years. Most importantly, there is a need for regional and national topicality. The proposed coverage will not be just London focussed. Also the range of services to be covered must appeal to wider audiences.

APPROACHING THE COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE

Public services, such as the ones highlighted above, are based on complex planning and delivery models. They are difficult services to run but affect the quality of lives of residents. The services highlighted above also reflect operational challenges faced by many other services of a similar nature. So no single council service is particularly mismanaged or suffers from disadvantage and no service is excellent or managed out of the ordinary.

My top six conclusions are:

1. Policy makers, i.e. local politicians of all political backgrounds do not always get to know the full picture on which to base their decisions; either top managers can be economical with the truth owing to custom and practice or they sometimes do not know it themselves. In almost all cases the decision-making process does not seem to benefit from access to key data and the most pertinent information. However, are policy makers asking for the right information? One has to challenge conventional systems rather than the managers or politicians.

2. A culture of short-termism prevails. The focus of service planning is biased towards the current financial year leaving key long-term decisions pending in a vacuum. These decision cycles are not always cost effective.

3. The public may not be asking the right questions. Does the average voter know much about the backlog of road repairs in their borough? It is estimated that backlog of repairs in a typical London borough could be twice the annual budget for road services. If average street maintenance budgets run at £ 8million, the backlog of accumulated road repairs could be as high as £15 million. Projected for London as a whole, the backlog of highway maintenance could be as high as £300 million, depending on how the costing is justified.

4. Party politics make very little difference to core services. There are rumours that cartels may start to operate in core services such as waste management, parking services, CCTV, i.e. any high volume contracting services where there are a few suppliers. Are managers given enough time to investigate these constraints?

5. Councils have cut management budgets to the point that currently many managers are taking responsibility for an untenable combination or mix of services. Temporary or interim management budgets have soared but on completion of many tasks, interim managers may leave very little permanent benefit if their output is not integrated into services. Only a few councils use interims well. The whole issue of management needs urgent review.

6. Council programmes for improving public service performance have also not been successful. The work of the Audit Commission has not been challenged, as is the lack of buy-in of the Commission’s role by councils. Some councils  apparently saw the Best value Inspections as an imposition. In many cases it was the inspectors who began to receive scrutiny.

But here is number 7. There is no need to wait for a General Election in 2010 before serious action is considered.

THE SCOPE OF A FORTHCOMING STUDY

A future study will be aimed at management and policy. It will aim to cut through complex issues and offer insight into actions and decisions that have led not only to under-performing public services but also unlikely to curtail short-term solutions. The study will aim to challenge conventional wisdom but in every case also offer direct service based examples. A report will also aim to present examples of success and through aggregation of findings aim to provide convincing evidence that most environmental services departments are not learning organisations. ‘Crisis management’ may be a better description of their mode of operation.

We hope that the report will be timely. Councils are working towards the implementation of a new regime of inspections, to be known as Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAA). Will councils fail to benefit from CAA unless certain actions are taken well in advance to benefit from it?  The implications of failure could be very serious for customers.

There is a final concern. Will the Audit Commission be more confident and even more resolute in carrying out its comprehensive area assessments than was the case with some of the best value inspections?