Public services in the 2010s
11 Dec 09
Social scientists, led by Professor Christopher Hood from the University of Oxford, are presenting their key findings in London today on the quality, performance and delivery of our public services, following a five-year research programme.
At a conference entitled ‘Public services in the 2010s: Prosperity, Austerity and Recovery’, the main findings of a total of 47 research projects involving nearly 100 social scientists in the ESRC-funded Public Services Programme are being unveiled.
The research teams looked at perceptions of public service; the strength and development of incentives and ways of measuring performance; and methods of management, regulation and inspection of the public services.
Professor Hood, Gladstone Professor of Government and Director of the ESRC Public Services Programme on Quality, Performance and Delivery, said: ‘Taking the 2008 PBR and the 2009 Budget forecasts together shows that the financial crisis is estimated by the Treasury to have permanently weakened the public finances by about 6.5 per cent of national income, or £90 billion a year.
'The programme’s findings on public services are going to be important in an era where resources are cut, but we hope equally useful lessons will also be learnt for times ahead when we are experiencing a less austere climate.’
Professor Christopher HoodThe programme’s findings on public services are going to be important in an era where resources are cut.
Among the contributing academics from the University of Oxford are Professor Vernon Bogdanor and Professor Iain McLean from the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Professor McLean, Professor of Politics, will focus on how the UK exchequer distributes the block grant to populations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. He will point out that formulas for ‘localist’ spending command the support of all politicians, yet the people generally view ‘postcode lotteries’ as unfair.
Other speakers include Professor John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde, who will ask whether we can afford choice in public services in an age of austerity. Meanwhile, Dr Gordon Marnoch of the University of Ulster will suggest that the high cost of providing politicians with research staff needs scrutinising, saying that few of them are prepared to do the hard work of researching policy issues.
The Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell and Martin Weale, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, will also be participating as speakers at the conference.