A Changing Policy Toward the British Public Sector and its Impact on Service Delivery (CPP RPS 6/2007)

In the evaluation of innovative models of public service, it is worth beginning with an examination of the intellectual background and the principles of political agendas which have underpinned the concept of British public service in recent years. This chapter will present the differences and similarities in defining the role of the state and also the consequences for public service management which stem from them. There are three major sets of principles which constitute the government’s policies toward public service in modern British politics: the post-war settlement underpinned by social economics, the New Right based on a neo-liberal set of values and the New Labour approach which aimed to combine social values with market mechanisms. Each of them has had a great impact on the development of public service and has contributed, at least to some extent, a valuable input