Threading the Needle: A liberated approach to public service governance structures and duties

This paper is the latest in a series to be published as part of Demos’s Future Public Services Taskforce, which is producing a new cross-cutting public service reform strategy for central government. This strategy could be the starting point for the first cross-cutting public service reform White Paper since 2011. In May 2024, the Taskforce published its vision for public service reform, Liberated Public Services: A new vision for citizens, professionals and policy makers.

We are now applying that vision to five policy workstreams:

• Workstream One – Governance structures and duties.
• Workstream Two – Accountability.
• Workstream Three – Funding models.
• Workstream Four – Workforce.
• Workstream Five – Citizens.

This Discussion Paper presents our analysis and the recommendations we are considering that came out of Workstream One – governance structures and duties. The Taskforce’s final report, The Reform Divided: A Roadmap to Liberate Public Services, further refines our analysis and presents our final recommendations.