Election Watch: Labour and Conservatives outline public sector plans
The Labour Party has promised to provide new powers for users of public services to replace the management teams of schools, hospitals and police forces subject to parental ballots or other objective evidence of under-performance if it wins the general election.
This could lead to schools being taken over by private companies, other school chains or universities, in an extension of existing plans. Labour's manifesto also promises an increase in the number of school mergers and takeovers and predicts that by the end of the next parliament, it will have more than 400 academies and 1000 federated schools in operation.
Schools would replace their management or become part of school chains if parents demand the local authority hold a school-wide ballot which reveals sufficient support for a new provider, or the local authority believes new management is needed to improve an underperforming school. Schools will also be able to apply to join a chain it they can show the benefits of doing so.
The manifesto also says a new Labour government would provide new powers for chief constables to be replaced after three years' of poor performance and for struggling constabularies to be taken over by better-performing police forces.
"The days of take it or leave it public services are over," Gordon Brown told The Guardian. "The days of just minimum standards are over. The days of the impersonal are finished. It has to be personal, accountable and tailored to your needs, and with a mechanism to trigger change if the service does not meet your needs."Other public sector reform plans in the Labour manifesto include the expansion of family intervention projects to tackle anti-social behaviour and the provision of financial support for victims to bring injunctions, with the costs being met by police forces or councils "who let them down". It also promises a new requirement for migrants applying for customer-facing public sector jobs to speak Englis while the government has also committed itself to offering a living wage to all of its staff. At £7.60, this is currently higher than the minimum wage,
The Conservative Party is set to launch its manifesto tomorrow (Tuesday 13th April), but on Friday set out its plans to make public sector efficiency savings of £12bn, which included a freeze on new recruitment in many areas and a reduction on the number of agency staff being used by public sectir bodies.
The Conservatives' plans, drawn up by former government adviser Sir Peter Gershon, also contemplate savings of £3bn from the renegotiation of contracts with suppliers and reducing the number of professional consultants used by the public sector.
