Blair heralds 'personalised' public services

The Prime Minister today heralded the introduction of "truly personalised" public services as he launched the Government's long-awaited policy review.

Tony Blair said there should be a "much greater diversity" of providers, moving away from the monolithic state just as industry had moved away from mass production to customised choice for consumers.

Mr Blair, flanked by his likely successor Gordon Brown, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Education Secretary Alan Johnson, unveiled the document which a No 10 aide said was designed to help complete the New Labour " project".

Proposals include the greater use of websites to help parents track pupils' progress and new walk-in GP centres, possibly in supermarkets, to combat shortages.

Mr Blair, speaking at a school in Hackney, east London, said: "What we want is to keep these basic public service values, which are about access to quality public services irrespective of your wealth, but make sure those are truly personalised services where there's a much greater diversity of provider and the old ways of working are broken down."

Mr Blair set out five principles underpinning the review:

* Empowering people to shape the services around them, such as more individual tutoring or mentoring in schools;

* Diversity of supply, ensuring that if there are long waits for services, then alternative suppliers should be able to step in to provide them;

* Empowering frontline public service workers, giving them the flexibility to innovate;

* Reaching out to the most excluded in society, with specific measures to help them:

* A partnership between the citizen and state with rights and responsibilities, such as people taking greater responsibility for their own fitness.

Mr Brown promised "major announcements" on education and City Academies in his Budget on Wednesday.

Mr Brown went on: "The next stage of improving our public services is personalised services tailored to people's needs.

"Just as in industry and what we receive from what's produced by industry, people want goods and services tailored to their needs, so too that's the lesson for the future of public services.

"Developing a service that's personalised to the citizen's needs and wishes will take us into exciting new and inventive areas where there will be greater choice, greater competition, greater local accountability."

In health, he singled out the example of a pharmacy being able to offer blood tests, and in education, personalised tuition to make sure children did not fall behind their classmates.