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Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

UNISON welcomes assurances over NHS reform

(09/05/08) Government pledges staff and patients will be the driving force for change

For safety’s sake

(08/05/08) Meat inspection to remain in public control

Everyday heroes

(06/05/08) Say ‘thank you’ to the special people who care for the UK’s sick children

Food for good

(01/05/08) UNISON calls for school (and hospital) meals to be sourced locally
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Voices for Real Reform

In January 2007 UNISON and the democratic left think tank Compass convened a special summit aimed at showing a new way forward for public service reform.

The need for modern public services that can respond to changing social and economic needs, and make the best possible use of public resources, is something we can all agree on. Unfortunately in recent years the discussion around public service reform has been distorted by a distracting emphasis upon market mechanisms and private sector involvement. The truth is that markets will at best only ever be marginal, and at worst could be a serious obstruction, to the real challenges of public service improvement - challenges of public involvement, workforce development, organisational performance, partnership working, and strategic capacity building.

Documents & Links
Voices for Real Reform
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF
Dave Prentis writes on the future of public service reform
Link to an external websiteArticle on Compassonline.org.uk

We hope that the conversations initiated here will continue and begin to reveal a new agenda for public service reform beyond the false solutions that have dominated the policy agenda for far too long. The discussion document proposes principles that might frame a more constructive debate about service improvement, provides an overview of the issues in key service areas such as health, education, children's services, social care, housing, libraries and probation services, and assesses the prospects for moving a more positive agenda forward in the coming period.

CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
Individual Budgets
The government has said that Individual Budgets should be available to anyone in receipt of social care services. This Fact Sheet explains how Individual Budgets currently work and identifies key concerns around support arrangements, likely costs, impact on services and workforce issues.
Link to a document on this siteIndividual Budgets (358400 bytes)
NHS @ 60
Document containing a mix of serious articles (including one by Dave Prentis), light-hearted features and potted histories to illustrate why it's essential that we continue to celebrate and defend the NHS as it turns 60
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Machines, markets and morals

This pamphlet from the think tank Compass calls on the government to end the marketisation of the NHS and instead allow staff and users to shape the service democratically.Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (1709088 bytes)

PFI cost to the NHS
This study analyses the cost of using private finance to build the first 12 operational PFI hospitals by 2001-2002. It shows that PFI creates budget inflexibilities that increase pressures on the NHS to cut its largest cost: the jobs, working conditions and pay of staff, therefore impacting on the quality of healthcare services.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (70277 bytes)
The UK Public Library Service - facing the challenges
This factsheet highlights the challenges the public library service faces and UNISON's campaign to defend the service, which is very popular and valued by local communities.
Link to a document on this siteLibrary factsheet (366592 bytes)
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