At a key-note LGA conference debate - 'Can half of all public services be delivered by the third sector by 2010?' - councillors from across the country will debate how services including social care, waste collection, offender management, mental health care and addiction treatment could be outsourced.
Cllr Kemp will say: "Our duty must be to the users of public services. We must continue to challenge the assumption that something has to be done one way because it has always been done that way.
"The voluntary and community sector is often in a better position to deliver services and encourage people to play active parts in their neighbourhoods. Councils have a responsibility to increase the involvement of these groups by helping them identify the right contracts, at the right time and in the right place.
"We all have a shared goal of improving public services. Giving the third sector more control of delivery, under the democratic umbrella of the local council's leadership, is a 'win win' situation for everyone.
"It has been claimed up to half of all our services could be outsourced by 2010. We do not necessarily have to be that arbitrary, but we can be that ambitious."
Cllr Kemp will say all parties involved, including central government, have a responsibility to make the many pledges to increase third sector involvement a reality.
"Everyone involved in the delivery of public services has a duty to break down these barriers. The Government says it's a priority for them, it's certainly a priority for councils and now we need to turn bold thinking into bold actions.
"The third sector can give us exciting alternatives whereas too often we think only that services can be provided either in house or by the private sector. Too many people are making too much money from the privatisation of council services. The Third sector combines public sector ethos with private sector innovation."
Autor(en)/Author(s): Matt Nicholls
Quelle/Source: Local Government Association, 06.07.2006
