Public service reform
Prime Minister David Cameron has set out the Government's ambitious plans for modernising public services, driven by competition, choice and greater independence for institutions.
In a speech at the RSA in London, the PM said 2011 was a critical year for the Government’s modernisation agenda.
Mr Cameron stressed he wanted “one of the great legacies of this Government to be the complete modernisation of our public services.”
The PM said he was “incredibly optimistic about what the country can achieve” this year, and that modernisation is both a personal and political priority for him.
Mr Cameron said:
I don’t want anyone to doubt how important this is to me.
My passion about this is both personal and political. Personal because I’ve experienced, first-hand, how dedicated, how professional, how compassionate our best public servants are.
And this is a political passion - and priority - of mine too. I believe that Britain can be one of the great success stories of the new decade.
The PM hailed work already underway to modernise services by announcing that more than 140 GP-led consortia have now come forward, covering over half the country.
These consortia are using new powers to take control of NHS budgets and directly commission services for their patients.
Speeches and transcripts: PM’s speech on public service reform