Public welfare services and social exclusion

Eurofound — European Foundation For The Improvement Of Living And Working Conditions

Description

The development of consumer-oriented initiatives in the European Union
Social policy

Sujets

• Marginalization
• Welfare
• Social policy
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROFOUND-EUROPEAN-FOUNDATION-FOR-THE-IMPROVEMENT-OF-LIVING-AND-WORKING-CONDITIO
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• EAN13: 928274907
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

• * * European Foundation
* L51 * f°r the Improvement of
• • • Living and Working Conditions
Public Welfare
Services and
Social Exclusion
The development of
consumer-oriented
initiatives in the
European Union
Loughlinstown House,
Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland • * • European Foundation
• |L-]| • for the Improvement of
•
* • • Living and Working Conditions
Public Welfare
Services and
Social Exclusion
The development of
consumer-oriented initiatives
in the European Union
EF/95/13/EN Nicholas Deakin started his career as a civil servant in the British Home Office and then
moved on to social research, taking a doctorate at Sussex University and working on the
Nuffield Foundation's survey of race relations in Britain. Subsequently he worked at the
Greater London Council, as Head of Central Policy Unit and then went to Birmingham
University as Professor of Social Policy and Administration. He has been an advisor to
Government departments, and chaired local and national voluntary bodies. His
publications include Consuming Public Services (with Tony Wright MP) and The Politics
of Welfare.
Ann Davis is Director of Social Work Research and Development, The University of
Birmingham. She teaches, researches and publishes in the areas of gender, health and
personal social services and social work. She is actively involved as a consultant with
service user groups and the staff of health and personal social services organisations.
Neil Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work,
School of Social Science at the University of Birmingham. He directed the Department's
Social Services Unit and was founding editor of Social Services Research. He contributed
to the collection Consuming Public Services and wrote the essay on social services in
Learning from Innovation, which he co-edited. • * • European Foundation
• UEj] * for the Improvement of
• * • Living and Working Conditions
Public Welfare
Services and
Social Exclusion
The development of
consumer-oriented initiatives
in the European Union
Nicholas Deakin
Ann Davis
Neil Thomas
Loughlinstown House,
Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Tel.: [phone] Fax: [phone] Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1995
ISBN 92-827-4907-X
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1995
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director,
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,
Loughlinstown House, Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Printed in Ireland PREFACE
Under economic pressure to make better use of often shrinking resources in the context
of growing demand, public authorities across the European Union have been rethinking
and restructuring the services they fund and deliver. A considerable part of this process
has been aimed at making public services more responsive to the needs and preferences
of their users, i.e. consumer-oriented action.
This report forms the final synthesis of the results of a Foundation research project
undertaken between 1991 and 1994 to assess these developments in a selected number
of Member States (Germany, Greece, Portugal, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy
and Ireland). The research, which included national reviews of policies and programmes
and case studies of innovative consumer-oriented initiatives, concentrated on
developments in public welfare services, in particular social security and social services,
which were seen to be of particular significance for disadvantaged and socially excluded
persons.
The main objectives of the study, which forms an integral part of the Foundation's
programme on social cohesion, were to document and assess reform and innovation in
public welfare services and to consider the implications of these for service users,
providers and policy makers/administrators. Additional objectives were to consider the
role of women, who are disproportionately represented among users "in need" and
amongst service delivery workers, especially those on the front line, and to assess the
potential for further development and transfer of good practice.
The research has confirmed the central relevance of the key themes of the project,
namely the persistence in the Member States of social exclusion; the wide variety of
issues affecting the key actors (consumer/citizens, staff, managers and policy makers), and
the lack of attention to equal opportunities and in particular to gender issues. New
programmes to improve service quality and consumer orientation have consistently suffered from problems of funding and continuity. Insufficient attention has been paid
to monitoring and evaluation, and thus also to transfer of successful practice.
The report analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches taken by
public welfare services to improving service quality and responsiveness, and makes a
series of recommendations relating to the role of users/consumers, the challenges facing
staff and their trade unions, the implications for managers and policy makers, and the
contribution of the European Union. These focus on the need for a greater interaction
and dialogue between the key actors and systems to support this; improved training for
staff and management; adequate monitoring and evaluation, paying more attention to the
impacts of services on economic and social cohesion; exchange of information and
experience, and greater political support, including more attention to longer term cost
effectiveness and democratic accountability. It is felt that the European Union could
make an important contribution in supporting positive developments, encouraging
dialogue and increasing knowledge and exchange of experience.
On 26 April 1995 this report was assessed by an evaluation committee on behalf of the
Foundation's Administrative Board. The participants felt that the project had given rise
to very worthwhile results. The employers' representative, speaking from a private sector
perspective, noted their increasing interest in the issues raised by the report. This arose
in three ways - their involvement as "corporate citizens" (enterprises citoyennes),
increasing privatisation of public services and as contributors to social security. He agreed
with the need emphasised in the report to identify the clearly different interests of users,
staff and managers in public services developments
Both trade union representatives welcomed the report and were pleased to see the
emphasis on social exclusion, while stressing that not all the questions of unions in the
area of public services (an issue of priority for ETUC) could be answered by this report.
In their general comments they pointed to the different winners and losers in these
developments, who could vary over time and location; the issue of cohesion of the public
services themselves and their income and expenditure problems; the question of how to
put an economic value on investments to maintain social cohesion and the need for
VI public and private sectors to work together to combat exclusion. The relationship
between consumerism and citizenship and the essential differences between private and
public services were also emphasised.
The government representative said the report provided a very useful platform to
highlight current EU experience and could form a good starting point for a broader
discussion. It could also lead to demands for further research since the problems of
reconciling resources and needs is a major problem for public services in the EU
Member States.
The European Commission (DGV) felt the work of the Foundation in this area was
exactly what it needed and looked forward to further collaboration on these issues in the
future. Of particular concern to DGV, as elaborated in the Medium Term Social Action
Programme (1995-97), was the relationship between social protection and employment.
The participant from OECD gave information on its work in this area within the Public
Management Service and stressed the need for more information on what is happening
in public services. The impact of service quality initiatives needs much greater
examination especially to identify who was benefiting and who was losing from the
changes. There was also a need for greater clarity about the problem being tackled - was
it about better delivery of existing services or about assessing what services are delivered
in relation to needs and where were the gaps? The key role of the political process in
designing and assessing programmes should also be highlighted.
Following this discussion the report was unanimously approved for publication. In relation
to the conclusions and recommendations, the evaluation committee felt the report
provided a good framework for the development of new ideas and actions. They stressed
the need for further dialogue and networking. Improvements to public services in future
would have to be seen to be cost effective and to impact on key issues such as
unemployment and exclusion. There