Conference, it is my pleasure to be here today, amongst people who believe as I do in Public Service and Public Services

It is also my pleasure to address a UNISON event in the year when the NHS has been guaranteed a rise in funding unprecedented in recent times.

The March 2000 budget means that the NHS will grow by one half in cash terms and one third in real terms in the next 5 years.

7000 extra beds in hospitals & intermediate care

100 new hospitals by 2010 and 500 new one stop primary care centres

3000 GP premises modernised & 250 new scanners

clean wards and better food

modern IT systems in every hospital & GP surgery

7,500 more consultants and 2000 more GP’s

20,000 extra nurses and 2,000 new GP’s

1000 more medical school places

childcare support for NHS staff with 100 on-site nurseries

Modernising the NHS is one part of a wider programme of modernising government. A program that takes best practice and combines it with real investment in services of today and the future

In order to achieve change we need the collective energy of central and local government to be focused in partnership with each other. We need to be brave and bold in copying best practice from the voluntary and private sectors where this can lead to improvements; and we must never stop listening to the views of service users to ensure we create a cycle of continuous improvement.

The unions aren’t – and have never been - just about a narrow debate on pay and conditions: it’s about the culture of the workplace, and about improving the life-chances of all who work there.

It’s about how every member can contribute for the wider good – of their workplace, the community, the country. It’s about how we can all get the most out of life and work.

In the Cabinet Office we’ve recognised that. That’s why we signed a formal Partnership Agreement with the civil service union and the Cabinet Office.

It has grown out of a recognition that we work better when we work together. We share so many objectives:

being a good employer;

making sure that public service is effective and is given the tools it needs for delivering the government’s programme; and

the importance of training and increasing individuals’ skills.

To recognise that where we extend opening hours and improve services for consumers, we must balance this with decent working conditions and hours for staff. We need to create a win win situation where services match the lives of both consumers and staff.

The Partnership Agreement takes our relationship onto a mature and responsible footing. It is something where government can lead the way for other employers.

The constructive relationships underpinned by the Partnership Agreement are critical in delivering Modern Government.

Determined to invest in public sector staff and services we launched the Modernising Government white paper in 1999.

Modern government, as I am sure many of you know well, is defined by 5 things:

Professional policy making

Responsive public services

Quality public services

Utilising new technology

Valuing public service

Let’s take Professional policy making.

Government policy must be about more than responding to the latest crisis / tabloid campaign or opinion poll.

Policy should be developed in consultation with those it will affect, but equally policy goals must be designed to tackle causes not just symptoms.

This means making difficult choices, sometimes sacrificing popularity in order to ensure economic stability or going against public opinion to achieve social justice.

The fuel protests are an example of where the government has taken a long-term view. Refusing to cave in to demands to embark on a fuel-tax cutting frenzy to appease protesters, when we have a long-term vision of reform that prioritises help for people and public services that have suffered years of poverty.

We listened and we acted in the interests of ALL the people. Delivering targeted help for those most in need, and balancing concessions for the motorist alongside (not at the expense of), pensioners, public services and prudence.

Take the Rough Sleepers Unit. Set up to deliver a reduction in the number of rough sleepers to as near to zero - and by at least two-thirds by 2002.

A target we are delivering by:

helping those on our streets to come inside - by tailoring services to meet their needs

rebuilding the lives of those who have been on the streets.

preventing tomorrow’s potential rough sleepers. By improving support for vulnerable groups including care-leavers, ex-offenders, drug and alcohol abusers, those with mental health problems and the armed forces.

In August the latest street count figures were published showing a reduction of one-third in the number of rough sleepers since June 1998.

The Rough Sleepers Unit has a short time to deliver its target and is working flexibly and in partnership. That’s Professional policy. It Makes lives better.

Modern Government means Responsive Public Services.

Services with opening hours to accommodate an entire community. Not every service will or should be open 24/7 – but where there is an obvious demand for flexible service delivery, we will try to accommodate it.

We have NHS Direct, the 24-hour nurse-staffed help-line:

Telephone and Internet accessible;

Bringing medical advice into your kitchen, your offices.

We are piloting walk-in centres – where you literally walk in to see a medical professional.

And booked admissions –outpatient appointments made at the convenience of patients, reducing the number of missed appointments and wasted staff time.

Responsive services means learning from mistakes.

1999’s summer passport problems were not swept under the carpet

The service was evaluated. The results:

A 24-hour call centre.

Extended opening hours,

Fax back facilities

An upgraded website with 4-hour e-mail response time.

Responsive public service incorporates a vision of how services can be improved before the need for improvement becomes blatantly obvious.

Responsiveness must be coupled with quality.

It’s about more than central government initiatives – it’s local action:

Take Heywood Community High School

Second time winner of the Chartermark. This comprehensive in Heywood, Rochdale – has set itself highest academic and social standards.

Measures introduced include:

an open door policy for students and parents

Headteachers surgery every Friday evening

Crèche provision at parents evenings

Signing at school assemblies and parents meetings for hearing impaired students and parents

That’s Quality public services. Making lives better.

The fourth strand of the modernisation programme is Information Age government

The Information Age agenda offers challenges and opportunities for delivering government services in innovative ways. However, we must not become so enthusiastic that we forget that not everyone is able to use new technology. Some people cannot afford the equipment, or don’t have access to the technology. Some do not have the skills to use it.

But we are addressing these issues.

The Chancellor recently announced a new multi-million pound initiative that will provide an essential step in bridging our digital divide. The £15m scheme, Computers Within Reach will provide up to 100,000 recycled computers to low income families. The first community to benefit from this initiative will be Kensington in Liverpool, which has 14,000 residents, high levels of poverty and unemployment three times the national average.

Other measures to tackle the digital divide include:

1,000 learndirect centres by spring 2001 – 600 are open now.

on-line basic skills training free of charge for the unemployed;

in Brighton, a joint UK online/Big Issue centre will help homeless people to find a job by giving them access to computers and their own email addresses;

charities in Hampshire are bringing laptop learning to the housebound.

The Government’s ambition is clear. For the UK to be at the forefront of the new global knowledge economy.

This is vital to our future prosperity. We are putting in place procedures to ensure that we create an Information Rich and not an Information Poor society.

We will make 100% of Government services accessible via the Internet by 2005. Supplementing not replacing traditional methods of service delivery.

Information age government makes lives better.

And so to the final strand in our vision of modernity:

Valuing public services.

It is easy to denigrate the public sector and public services – easy to criticise staff that work within the public sector. To fail to appreciate what amazing range, depth and variety public services provide society.

I am not saying that public services or public servants are all perfect.

I am saying that often they are undermined, undervalued and under-resourced.

Frequently it is easier to do things as they have always been done. Than it is to add vision, creative thinking, spirit, and admiration into the melting pot.

The government is reforming:

Involving and motivating our staff in decision-making

Tackling inequality in service provision and staff recruitment

That means investing in public services and public servants to create a future we can all believe in.

Within Central government it means modernising the civil service itself.

Managers and the trade unions have identified six key areas of action to implement change

Stronger leadership

Better business planning.

Sharper performance management.

Dramatic improvement on diversity.

More open service to bring in and bring on talent.

A better deal for staff.

We recognise that with reform comes a responsibility – to invest in our workforce, giving staff appropriate transferable IT skills, upskilling and re-deploying staff appropriately where reform changes the nature of work.

We need to ahead of the game reform wise. There are potentially huge implications for staff here. Reliance on the internet will change the role of some staff working in the front line of service delivery.

As we modernise and as we plan we must seriously consider our duty as the largest employer in the UK.

We must, as the UK’s largest employer, be proactive in identifying what skills will be crucial to delivering change, so that we can put in place training and support structures to ensure that as we modernise we take our staff with us.

The challenge is clear. We know what we need to do and how we want to deliver it. We now need to measure the impact of those changes in human terms. What will each part of the modernisation programme mean for staff, and how do we upskill, redeploy and accommodate our workforce whilst simultaneously modernising our services.

This must be a priority area for partnerships between unions and government, and is I believe our number one challenge. We know that modern government is a goal we must achieve, our service users deserve and demand nothing less, the challenge is take the workforce with us, equipping them effectively to deliver change and ensuring that they are empowered not overpowered by it.

Modernisation is not a 6-month, 12 month or 18 month project

This is a long-term rolling project. Change driven by results and compassion.

An Olympian style mission with no finish line. But we have invested in the foundations, creating an environment where excellence, talent and diversity are nurtured.

There’s no gold medal for modernising government. Clear targets and a strong will to succeed are what drives us.

We have a lot to be proud of. Like our Olympic athletes, we have made great strides, and modernisation is something Britain is getting better at.