Presentation from WCVA's Annual Conference 2014

1. Public Services
From ideas to action
 www.wcva.org.uk  0800 2888 329  help@wcva.org.uk

2. The long view
• Post devolution – a distinctive Welsh approach
to public services?
• More than a decade of debate
• At the beginning of the decade resources and
demand were increasing
• By now, resources shrinking fast, but demand
(and expectations) still rising

3. Making the
Connections and
Beecham
Making the Connections, 2004
• Proposes collaboration and cooperation
• Rejects fragmentation and competition
• Citizen at the centre
Beecham review of local services, 2006
• Citizen centred approach but for bolder and quicker action
• Small country governance
• Wales achieving for – and with its people – citizen centred
services in a way its larger neighbours find more difficult

4. Williams
Commission 2014
• Local government reorganisation
• Redefine the nature of public services
• “The only viable way to meet the needs and
aspirations of people is to shift the emphasis of
public service towards coproduction and
prevention”

5. Welsh Government
response to
Williams 2014
• “Our public services must evolve to reflect a new
relationship between the people who deliver services and
those who benefit from them
• Public services must increasingly be delivered not to
people, but with people
• Act earlier to help people take preventative action to
improve their lives, rather than only responding when
things go wrong
• Public services delivered through public bodies working
with partners – in particular the third sector, and in some
circumstances the private sector – to provide the best
possible services”

6. Recurring themes
• Putting people and communities at the centre
• Public engagement in design and delivery
• Prevention and early intervention
• Shift from only addressing needs, to growing
wellbeing
• Consensus on ideas
• But will this translate into action?

7. Difficult
challenges
• Putting people and communities at the centre
really means sharing power and influence – a
new relationship?
• How to invest in the long-term when we have
short-term demands to meet?
• How to build community capacity and resilience
as resources become scarce?
• How to use public sector funding in a smarter
way?
• Can we reduce costs but not demolish services?

8. Ill-judged cuts
• Funding for people and communities supported by
the third sector is vulnerable
• Non-statutory services and local amenities can be
the first victims
• Easier thing to cut may be the worst thing to cut
• We don’t spend much money on the third sector
• So we don’t save much by cutting the sector
• But we can do significant damage by cutting the
sector

9. Forcing the pace
• New levers to accelerate change?
• People’s voice and engagement as the new norm
• More explicit recognition of third sector role
• Mutual support, volunteering and community action
• Proactive and well managed asset and service transfer
• Continued investment in disadvantaged communities to
address inequalities
• Focus on wellbeing (social, economic and environmental)
and outcomes

10. Today
• Today’s speakers will continue to develop the
ideas
• And our workshops will focus on examples of
working differently
• Sharing power
• Changing the relationship between the state and
citizens and the third sector

11. Thank you,
and have a good conference