The pressing need to tackle the cost of living would require a new approach to reforming public services and reducing the demands on the state, David Cameron argued, at the third of a series of seminars with the Centre for Policy Studies on ‘the post bureaucratic age’. The conference was held in conjunction with the Social Enterprise Coalition on the subject of Public Services in the Post Bureaucratic Age, at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre.

Speakers:

David Cameron MP

Michael Gove MP

Nick Herbert MP

Oliver Letwin MP

Theresa May MP

Eric Pickles MP

Grant Shapps MP

David Willetts MP

The seminar provided an opportunity for an exploration of Conservative Party thinking on public service reform, and in particular how best to chart a ‘post-bureaucratic’ course that rejects top down central control and harnesses the potential of voluntary groups, the private sector and social enterprises in service delivery. David Cameron spelt out the ‘big picture’ as being the delivery of ‘progressive goals’ by ‘conservative means’. As a number of speakers remarked, it is the poorest who suffer the most from state failure and the cost to society – both in human and financial terms- is all too-evident from declining social mobility and entrenched dependency.

A number of specific ideas for greater local accountability and diversity of provision were explored. In housing, Grant Shapps highlighted the potential of Community Land Trusts in improving the supply of affordable housing, while Nick Herbert put forward a number of ideas for reforming the criminal justice system – such as providing better information direct to local communities (so-called ‘crime mapping’) and greater accountability for the police and prison services.

In education, Michael Gove put forward the Conservatives’ proposals for supply side reform in schools provision while David Willetts argued that a new approach to vocational education was needed to help unblock Britain’s low social mobility. As Eric Pickles noted, local authorities would play a key part in many of the ‘post bureaucratic’ reforms and he highlighted work already in way, for example in Kent, where service users have benefitted from direct control of care budgets through the ‘Kent Card’.

The conference also heard from a number of social enterprise and voluntary sector leaders who highlighted the services they are already delivering– from education to drug rehabilitation to community leisure facilities.  A key theme was how these activities could be developed and replicated and not stifled by bureaucracy and central control.

To listen to David Cameron’s remarks click here