Total government expenditure on procurement reached £284bn in 2017/18. Traditionally, the primary focus of procurement has been to deliver services more efficiently whilst reducing costs. The implementation of the Public Service (Social Value) Act 2012 was intended to increase the wider benefits that could be gained through public procurement – for instance through delivering social […]
Despite the respite of a £20bn funding boost, the National Health Service (NHS) must confront and overcome manifold challenges set against a well-rehearsed narrative of inexorable demand and cost pressures over the next Spending Review period. Long-term sustainability over the NHS’ long-term plan will require reforms of health delivery, a reappraisal of the role of […]
In recent times attempts have been made to recast central/local relations, seeking a concordat between Whitehall and town hall or a rewiring of central government. The goal of ensuring fiscal freedoms, widely seen as necessary to full local autonomy, has long floundered on the shoals of a diffident approach to business rates retention and a […]
The relationship between major employers and employees is too often one of estrangement. This is epitomised by a number of local economic anchors: Investment in major strategic infrastructure schemes has created a generation of local economic anchors, but their impact on the local economy today is not as positive as it could be. Communities living […]
The fight for cleaner air is one of liveability. What changes and investments are society willing to take for their place to be a more pleasant one to live and work in? How willing are people, businesses and governments to change the way they operate for a more sustainable economy? At what point do questions […]
The rhetoric of digitisation pervades the contemporary political conversation. Smart devices, connected in smart homes, connected in smart cities give policymakers ever better information on which to base decisions. At the same time, the UK’s Road to Zero and its equivalents abroad present a future of carbon-neutral countries producing zero emissions. Smart Cities: Fair investment […]
The state of the public service market is much more precarious now than in the past, with a number of major government contracts being either cancelled or bailed out at taxpayer expense. With concerns over profitability mounting and contracting bodies seeking to meet stringent savings’ targets, margins for failure have become perilously narrow. As profitability […]
The increased pressure placed on local authorities under the period of austerity since 2010 has been well rehearsed, but how well have local authorities as a whole managed under the strain? This short report examines some of the evidence available on one crucial line of service: social care. The analysis shows most users of adult […]
The question of how adult social care funding is put on a sustainable footing helped to define the 2017 General Election. Along with the NHS, it has become an issue totemic of wider choices around public spending and their impact on local services. Yet the long shadow of social care funding in the public and […]
Automation is a major point of debate in politics and policy. How it will happen, when it will happen and who will be affected are all contentious questions with multiple, often conflicting, answers. Cutting through the various arguments around automation is the certainty that it is going to happen, and that it hasn’t really started […]