Feature / Freer thinking

30 August 2013

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CIPFA chief executive Steve Freer, who steps down this month, tells Seamus Ward about the pressures on the public sector now and in the future


Public sector finances have changed enormously since Steve Freer became CIPFA chief executive around the turn of the century. For most of the first decade, public spending grew strongly – particularly in health, where it more than doubled. But as the economic crisis has enveloped most of the developed world, the financial brakes have been applied firmly. Yet Mr Freer, who steps down this month, is relatively optimistic about the future.

‘We are in a different phase at the moment and austerity makes this a very challenging period. Having said that, I don't think it’s all doom and gloom,’ he says. ‘If you talk to people who have worked through previous tough periods, such as the Thatcher reforms

of the 1980s, they tend to be relatively positive.  Many people refer to having done some of the best and most exciting work of their careers.

I think there is a lot of great work going on at the moment to improve efficiency and keep essential services running.

‘Very often it doesn't feel positive, but in due course people will look back at this period with a great deal of satisfaction and some pride in terms of the work they have done.’



Managing austerity

He says most experts would be surprised that public services are managing austerity as well as they have up to now. ‘This reflects incredibly positively on chief finance officers and their senior colleagues.’

Ties between the NHS and social care have been growing and will be strengthened even more in England with a further transfer of funds in 2014/15 and 2015/16 (when the transfer will reach £3.8bn).

Mr Freer backs the move to join up services. ‘In areas such as health and social care, integration is vitally important and is fundamental to the service experience of users. Quite apart from the implications for efficiency, we should be striving for the user to receive as seamless a service as possible.

‘We know there is a lot of good practice out there, but we have to face up to the fact that on the whole we are a long way from a seamless service. That has implications for NHS and other public bodies, especially local authorities.’

The NHS has to involve and develop a different relationship with service users, whether resources are plentiful or scarce, adds Mr Freer. ‘The NHS has a long way to go before it can claim to be genuinely  patient-centred. That is a critical shortcoming if we want to extract maximum value from the resources available and if we are going to win support for significant service changes. We can find good practice in pockets in the health service. The challenge is to learn from it, roll it out, and make it standard. That’s a recurring theme for us in every part of the public sector.’



CIPFA in the NHS

While the number of CIPFA-qualified accountants in the NHS has declined in recent years (20% of qualified NHS accountants are CIPFA qualified and 5% of students are training with the institute, according to the 2011 HFMA NHS finance function census), Mr Freer insists CIPFA regards the NHS as critically important. ‘It is significant that we have many members working at senior levels of the service. We are keen to maintain that high level of involvement and to be a significant partner in helping the NHS develop and improve.’

With the recent reforms in England and the relatively low growth in funding, Mr Freer believes the NHS could benefit from taking more CIPFA trainee accountants.

‘Our members are good at seeing the big picture and understanding what drives performance, efficiency and productivity,’ he says. ‘They know it’s not just about the organisational level, but also the local public sector and how their organisation’s services integrate with other local services. They think about outcomes for the local community and service users. CIPFA members are exceptionally good at understanding these issues. It's why they often rise to senior strategic roles.’

With merger with other accountancy institutes mooted from time to time, it has sometimes seemed as though CIPFA’s future would not be as a standalone body. But Mr Freer believes its future is more likely to involve partnerships with overseas bodies. It is already working with partners in Canada, Australia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

And what of stepping down after more than a decade at the helm? ‘I intend to take a little bit of time off,’ says Mr Freer. ‘But while my plans are far from finalised, I have no intention of giving up work.’



Image removed.CIPFA’s new chief

Steve Freer will be succeeded by Rob Whiteman (right). He is director general, operational systems, transformation, at the Home Office, which he joined in September 2011 from the UK Border Agency, where he was chief executive. Mr Whiteman spent his earlier career in local government finance and management, including a spell as chief executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham from 2005 to 2010. He sat on CIPFA’s Council between 2004 and 2006.

CIPFA’s new chief