MPs call for 'user-driven' services

A committee of MPs has called on the government to do more to involve people in public services.

The Commons public administration committee said on Wednesday that a model based on "user involvement" could improve the quality of services.

People could have managerial or financial control of delivery as services became "user-driven", said the committee, and it suggested that consultations could help to get people more involved.

The report urged ministers to work with the public to create more "personalised" services, which are responsive and tailored to the needs of individuals.

It called for new training for public service workers to enable them to promote user responsiveness, with government departments monitoring provision where possible.

Pointing to successful examples, such as Tenant Management Organisations which see tenants managing services collectively, it said people were more likely to become involved when they were directly affected by the outcome.

Committee chairman Tony Wright said: "Involving people in public services is an important and innovative idea, with huge potential.

"Genuinely empowering service users - as the government says it wants to do - would fundamentally change the way many of our public services are currently provided.

"The reason we should do it is because in the right circumstances, user involvement could significantly improve services and people's experience of them."

However, he said "more robust evidence" was needed on the effects of user involvement.

"We've heard a lot of claims about user-driven public services, including that they strengthen citizenship and improve public services," he said. "There is some evidence that user-oriented services do result in higher satisfaction and better outcomes.

"The question is still about cost-effectiveness, and how best to make 'personalisation' of public services work. It is early days still for these ideas and we need monitoring and evaluation in the areas where strong user involvement is being pioneered to begin to assess its true potential."