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As part of our commitment to improving the effectiveness of public services, OPM has a programme of public interest activities on themes that are important to the people who use public services and to the organisations that provide them.

The themes for the research are decided in consultation with the Public Interest General Council, which helps us to identify issues that are of current and emerging importance, and to which OPM can add value through our particular focus on exploring issues across different types of public services. The work is financed by OPM.

Our public interest activities are based on working closely with those who have direct experience of using services and responsibility for their governance, management and delivery. Our aim is to provide information, recommendations and tools of real practical value to policy makers, professionals and practitioners in public services. To this end, we try to discuss and disseminate the results of our activities as widely as possible.

Past public interest research

Acceptability of Difference: Local solutions or postcode lotteries?

Our latest piece of research has been published. 'Local solutions or postcode lotteries: the acceptability of difference in public services' seeks to get behind the phrase ‘postcode lottery’ in order to explore where and how differences in service availability between areas can be acceptable to the public, or even desirable.

Amidst talk of place-shaping and increased local decision making, this is an issue that has been ill-defined and poorly wired-up to the wider policy context.
 
The report recognises previous research that says where services are critical – a matter of ‘life of death’ – then there will be little public tolerance for localised differences. It also highlights that variation is harder to swallow when the service in question is ‘individually consumed’ (such as acute healthcare) rather than ‘collectively consumed’.

But that still leaves a lot of services where there is room for local decision making and, as a consequence, local difference. In these cases, OPM argue that the debate must be better managed.  Local decision-makers and public managers have to communicate better from the outset and avoid finding themselves on the defensive should the postcode lottery accusation come their way. 

The report clarifies the confused topic of postcode lotteries and will help managers think about the ways that people understand local variations in service access. It highlights the importance not only of engaging residents, but also of effectively communicating that this is happening. It also argues that the portrayal of service users as consumers must be balanced by giving them a sense of themselves as members of communities, collectively experiencing the advantages and disadvantages of the services available. 

You can download a copy of the report here. If you would like to learn more about the work, please email Rob Francis or tel. 020 7239 7800)

Previous research topics:

How creative are our public services?

Public services cannot stand still for long. They must respond to frequent change in the needs and demands of the communities they serve and seek continually to improve the ways they work. Innovation is a vital element of effective services, and innovation stems from creative thinking and problem-solving. With this in mind, we set out to address the following:

• How are creative ideas generated in public services?
• What encourages creativity in public services, and what are the barriers?
• How are creative ideas taken forward to the implementation of innovations that result in improved and sustained social outcomes?

Download the report, Unlocking Creativity in Public Services

Improving public governance

The governance of public service organisations has been a major theme of our work. In 2003 we published Rubber Stamped?, which investigated the experience of appointed 'governors' of public services (such as non-executive directors in NHS organisations, members of police authorities, board members of non-departmental public bodies), and the views and experiences of the senior executives they work with. The research showed that many governors appointed to public service organisations, and carrying weighty responsibilities for their performance and accountability, feel unable to carry out their jobs fully or effectively.

As a direct result of this research, OPM went on to establish the Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services, in partnership with CIPFA and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Commission, chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, worked during 2004 to produce a set of common principles for the governance of all organisations that provide services to the public using public money. The Good Governance Standard for Public Services was launched in January 2005 to help governors of public services to do a difficult job better.