A new report published calls for radical change and devolved decision-making across Britain’s public services. Managing Delivery - New Public Service Architecture for the 21st Century by NLGN Director Chris Leslie calls on Ministers and senior public service managers to shift away from old-style civil service models and departmental hierarchies that are “outmoded and incapable of meeting new challenges”.

Leslie argues there are four core pillars of modern public service management that are not yet fully appreciated across the public sector:

“First, the factors that drive improvement differ from service to service, and new methods must now go beyond the ‘choice’ and ‘contestability’ models. Other factors can be equally important, such as citizen and political power, professional influence and the public service ethos, and the power of new substitute technologies and products replacing existing activities. Government must analyse each line of public service activity and recognise that sometimes greater consumer choice will be needed, but in other cases tapping into professional goodwill might be a better means of achieving improvement.

“Second, we are entering a new era of networked governance and decision-making by partnerships, yet the skills to build productive alliances are not recognised or rewarded adequately.

“Third, a fresh approach to risk management is needed to encourage creativity - and stronger messages about understanding risk and boldness need to be sent from the top.

“Fourth, greater advantage needs to be taken from new commissioning approaches, whether analysing public need more acutely, prioritising resources more effectively or contracting more cleverly on behalf of the taxpayer.

“The civil service has rested on withered laurels for too long. Defending closed procedures for those employed in senior positions and artificially insisting on outdated lines of vertical accountability are practices that have had their day. What is required is a different model that drives performance and delivery with the same power that bureaucracy drove delivery in the industrial era.”

The pamphlet, with a foreword by the LSE’s Tony Travers and supported by Mouchel Business Services, recommends a revived role for localism and local governance, constitutional reform to support new ways of working, and a Whitehall based on project working rather than departmental silos.