Speaking at London's Public Sector Efficiency Expo, CBI director general John Cridland called for a radical rethink of public services in order to protect frontline services.
He said public bodies should take advantage of "easy wins" and share services. Cridland said police forces in Kent and Essex had saved £11m through ICT collaboration. He also suggested civilians could play a greater role in enabling back office police functions, something currently only done by seven out of 43 forces.
"It's wasteful and demoralising to use highly-trained officers in roles that don't require their skills. Instead, more specialised civilian staff should be used behind the scenes to handle calls from the public, take fingerprints, look after detainees in custody suites or manage cases after arrest," he said.
"A re-engineered police service will be one where time and resource is always aimed at delivering what the public wants: crime being prevented, rather than the pieces being picked up afterwards.
"At the moment, the focus is on overall officer numbers – the more the merrier. The public go along with this because they think higher numbers will mean greater visibility. But they're being conned. Last week, Tom Winsor's review showed that more than 40 per cent of police officers work 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, in administrative roles out of sight."
Drawing on technology, Cridland also said telecare initiatives could save £17bn in adult social care by reducing the number of people entering residential care by thousands.
"Don't we want our elderly relatives to stay in their own homes as long as possible? Using telecare may also mean hospital ward closures or staffing reductions. But this could be an indicator of better care," he said.
Jos Creese, president of public sector ICT managers' society Socitm said ICT could enable a "revolution" in local public services.
"If there is a 'silver bullet' to deal with the massive cost cutting and modernisation of public services it is technology. But, only if IT is seen as an 'agent of change', a source of innovation and customer service and, not just seen as a cost centre, a support service or an avoidable cost," he told delegates.
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Quelle/Source: Public Service, 17.03.2011
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