Sustainable development and the modernisation of public services.

WITH AN ELECTION only weeks away, the debates around taxation, the funding of public services, and tax cuts has been joined in earnest--if it ever went away. There is no doubt that this is one of the defining agendas of current political discourse. But where is sustainable development in this

But how to engage sustainable development on this territory? This is the challenge fellow TC&P contributor Ian Christie and I have attempted over the past few months, initially in a private paper to the No. 10 Policy Unit, and now in revised form through a publication from the Sustainable Development Commission, Sharing the Value--A Sustainable Approach to the Modernisation Agenda. (1)

The basic premise we set out is that modernisation without sustainable development is a recipe for short-term gains but long-term waste, frustration, and contradiction. Sustainable development without the leverage and resources of the modernisation agenda will remain marginal in most public services. Neither programme is achieving its full potential, and we contend that neither can do so unless and until it is integrated with the other.

It is probably fair to say that while it is obvious that the successful modernisation of our public services is a very big deal for the Government, sustainable development is not seen as a particularly big deal, and indeed in some quarters is viewed as positively 'anti-aspirational'. This is regrettable but not so surprising. People care passionately about health, education, economic regeneration, and crime. It's true that they also care a great deal about the environment, social justice, and real quality of life in their communities (the basic constituents of sustainable development), but as yet sustainable development itself butters few political parsnips.

So why should those who drive Labour's modernisation agenda care much about sustainable development? Our view is because that modernisation process, and the benefits it generates, will be significantly enhanced by taking proper account of the principles and practice of sustainable development. Three examples illustrate this.

The Government's various modernisation programmes currently lack a coherent organising framework. Sustainable development provides that framework, as well as the practical tools required to deliver joined-up policy and implementation.

However welcome current improvements in service delivery may be, there is a short-termism about many of those improvements that is storing up problems for the future. Sustainable development enables a far more effective balancing of the short term and the long term, as well as a stronger focus on anticipating problems and taking early preventative actions.

However keen government departments may be to secure community and citizen buy-in to their modernisation programmes, there's little evidence that this is actually happening. Sustainable development practitioners (particularly at the local level) have successfully pioneered the kind of engagement and participation strategies that will significantly lift those modernisation programmes.

If the next phase of the modernisation agenda has a much more explicit sustainable development focus, not only will this framing of the current modernisation programmes help to deliver improved public services, but it will simultaneously generate substantial 'shared value' of different kinds. The kinds of thing we have in mind include:

* increased value for money (in both the short term and over the long term), with a far stronger focus on 'invest to save' strategies;

* mutually reinforcing outcomes (in terms of economic benefits, environmental protection, and social justice), rather than crude trade-offs;

* a deepening of the idea of increased choice for consumers, through an emphasis on personal responsibility and active citizenship;

* a fresh approach to local governance issues, avoiding the extremes of the 'local versus central debate';

* increased innovation and creativity in policy design and service delivery; and

* a connection between the modernisation agenda and the Government's leadership on global action for sustainable development.

We (and the Sustainable Development Commission) see this as a powerful opportunities agenda, highlighting ways in which this integration can be realised. A couple of examples (out of many that we explore) are: implementing in full the recommendations of the Sustainable Buildings Task Group and ensuring that all new houses built in the Thames Gateway and other growth areas comply with the Building Research Establishment's excellent 'rating for new homes'; and evolving the Comprehensive Performance Assessment for local authorities to put sustainable development at its heart, and ensure that this approach is carried through consistently in Best Value assessments, community strategies, local strategic partnerships, local area agreements, and strategic service-delivery partnerships.

The good news is that it's certainly in the thought processes at the heart of the Government. Time will tell whether this translates into action.

Note

(1) Sharing the Value--A Sustainable Approach to the Modernisation Agenda. Sustainable Development Commission, London, Jan. 2005. Available online at http://www.sd-commission. org.uk/news/resource_download.php?attach_ id=NX77JQO-FTGHRA4-FOFJ2GS-EUX354G

Martin Stott is Deputy Director in the Department of Planning, Transport and Economic Strategy at Warwickshire County Council.