Provincial Senates

To facilitate local government

To save taxpayers money

To improve the quality of public services

To ensure senates are frugal

To address these objectives, some ideas are outlined which might operate on the provincial level. Naturally, more modest proposals would be more probable

It is important that senates do not result in confirming Conservative fears of greater overall taxation through the additional layer of bureaucracy. If the idea does not result in savings and increased efficiency, then there is little point to it.  The benefits of greater local democracy can hardly justify any proposal to create a political assembly if it reduces the wealth of people.

Outline of public service reforms

• Provincial parliaments not to have tax raising powers, but to be funded centrally
• Administrative boundaries for public services to be revised to correlate with province boundaries
• Main political parties, to formulate alternative manifesto models for management of health, education, security environment etc
• Management teams [‘Trusts’] established to realise and implement manifesto models
• Provincial electorate to elect various Trusts for each key area for a set period
• Trusts to run service in province, competing with teams in other provinces
• National standards board established to assess and compare performance of management teams- with survey assessment distilled down to a percentage score

Example: Healthcare

1. All provinces to receive the same per capita health budget, [calibrated for local population profile, cost of living variations etc].
2. Three main parties establish three healthcare trusts, and another created by the universities or doctors.
3. Each trust given freedom to decide its preferred way to efficiently deliver a quality service free at the point of need
4. The four trusts to compete for election in each province, once every ten years. Each team represented by a candidate for provincial senate
5. Successful directors take charge, implementing their trusts policies within the province and accounting for the trusts record in senate
6. Relative national performance of trusts and local opinion of directorships in their adopted provinces creates a motor for best practice to evolve.
7. Trusts survival and future determined by electorates view of the quality of its service

Decade Election cycle

In the first half of the decade is a focus on key policy areas. The second half moves from supra national down to local with a year for regional referenda on individual issues.

1 Health director
2 Education director
3 Policing director
4 Environment director

5 Westminister

6 European MEPS
7 Provincial duke/duchess, County sheriffs and mayors
8 District councillors
9 Regional referenda year

10 Westminister

Benefits of this model

• No fear of privatization of public services
  Competing management teams would be funded centrally on a like for like basis. Excellence will come in through the ballot box, but not flow out in shareholders dividends.
• Embraces competition as a generator of best practice.
  The evolution of the fittest may not occur the engine of evolution is removed
• Offers incentives for efficiency
  The current provision of public services is vulnerable to unreasonable charges made on occasions by those capitalizing on ‘top down’ organizations, whose income stream is alienated from the discipline of competition, and which can discourage self-moderation. Such overspends would more directly compromise competing agencies.
• Annual national elections focused on specific issues
  A 10 year election cycle could create a strong national focus on the issue of the year, and offer time to judge the best option without distraction into other policy areas
• Empowerment of democracy
  Many voters must chose just one MP to represent a whole cross section of interests. Allowing people to express different allegiances for different issues offers a powerful incentive to distill a modern transparent democracy with real choice