New priorities for public services and reform Tue, 30 Jul 2024,

Public services were front and centre of the election campaign. From NHS waiting lists to teacher recruitment, and from trust in policing to the impact of AI and digitisation, the parties’ policy prescriptions for public services have been debated and questioned.

However, the new government faces severe challenges in improving our public services and making a tangible difference in people’s lives. Restoring faith and pride in our public services will also be crucial.

How can these aims be achieved, and how can citizens, industry, the third sector and others unite around a shared vision for our public services? How can tackling the acute challenges in our public services be balanced with the need to shift to a longer-term model of prevention? How should recovery and reform be sequenced?

Join Demos’ Public Services 2030 Network to discuss what the new government’s priorities for public services and reform should be, with three guest speakers:

• Professor Catherine Needham. Catherine Needham is Professor of Public Policy and Public Management at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on social care (including personalisation, co-production, personal budgets, older people, care workforce, care markets). She has published a wide range of articles, chapters and books for academic and practitioner audiences.

• Professor Nick Pearce. Nick is Director of The Institute for Policy Research (IPR) and Professor of Public Policy at the University of Bath. Before joining the University, Nick was the Director of Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), and between 2008 and 2010, Head of the No10 Downing St. Policy Unit, with responsibility for the formulation of policy advice to the Prime Minister.

• Halima Khan. Halima has been a senior official in national, regional and local government – at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Greater London Authority and Camden Council – working across social policy. Now working independently, Halima is an Affiliated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also Senior Advisor at PPL, a social enterprise management consultancy, where she supports local public service systems to innovate.

Ben Glover, Head of Social Policy – Demos, will chair the discussion.

About the Public Services 2030 Network

Public services are in crisis. Backlogs are everywhere, from NHS waiting lists to undecided asylum applications. Frontline staff, managers and civil servants alike are doing their best to respond, and often performing heroically.

But the fundamentals of the situation are beyond individual heroism, short term fixes or limited cash injections to resolve. The United Kingdom needs a rethink on public services: what do we want, what are we willing to pay for, and who will do the work and how will there be change?

There is no shortage of bold and innovative ideas. From pioneering councils to charities experimenting to new approaches to service design and thinkers across the political spectrum, we have been inspired by the wealth of work happening right across the country.

Now is the time to connect these voices to create a new era of public service reform. The Public Services 2030 Network is a movement of organisations committed to rebuilding and reforming our public services so they are fit for the next decade.The Network is supported in 2024 by:

• CIPFA
• The Institute of Employability Professionals
• The WEA
• Reed in Partnership

Doors will open from 16:30 with the panel beginning at 17:00

Register here