The public service ethos means different things to different regions
Author: Dominic Leigh |
The ‘public service ethos’ is meant to be a defined set of principles or values that all public servants adhere to when performing their duties to the public. The findings of our new report A New Public Service Ethos reveal that there is a general consensus amongst public sector workers about the characteristics that make up the public service ethos: accountability, community responsibility, customer service and integrity. However, there are significant variations between different regions over the extent to which these values are important to public sector work.
For example, four in five respondents from Wales felt community responsibility was very important to public sector work, whereas only 57 percent in Yorkshire and the Humber shared this view. Similarly two thirds of public sector workers in the North East said accountability was crucial for the public sector, compared to less than half in the South West. Three in five in the South West thought customer service was vital; in comparison to two in five in London and Wales. Our findings suggest the public service ethos is far from uniform, but instead there is a strong local dynamic to it.
Average effect of the private sector on the qualities associated with public services we tested for according to public sector workers (by region)
| Region | Average effect of the private sector on the qualities associated with public services we tested for |
| North East | -0.14 |
| East Midlands | -0.23 |
| London | -0.35 |
| West Midlands | -0.35 |
| Scotland | -0.36 |
| East of England | -0.37 |
| North West | -0.37 |
| South West | -0.4 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | -0.42 |
| Wales | -0.47 |
| South East | -0.48 |
-3 is a strong negative effect; 3 is a strongly positive effect
Qualities we tested for: accountability, career advancement, community responsibility, creativity, customer service, efficiency, entrepreneurialism, integrity, pay and benefits, and social justice.
Public sector workers’ perception of the effect of the private sector on qualities associated with the delivery of public services are just as (if not more) divergent. Taking all the qualities we tested for, including those associated with the public service ethos, the private sector was seen to have a negative impact on public services. On a scale of –3 (strongly negative) to 3 (strongly positive), Wales (-0.47) and the South East of England (0.48) express a clear negative impact, compared to a much smaller adverse effect in the North East (-0.14) and East Midlands (-0.23).
Our findings demonstrate the need to develop an understanding of the public service ethos that is more rooted in place.