Futures Thinking
The public services sector in the UK and around the world faces an urgent need for strategic, long-term reform in the face of demographic change, rising citizen expectations and economic restriction. This page features problems and solutions proposed by researchers examining how public services will look in the medium- and long-term.
List of Resources:
'Measuring Outcomes for Public Service Users' (PDF) Office of National Statistics (ONS), 2010
This is the final report of the Measuring Outcomes for Public Service Users (MOPSU) project, a 3 year research project to develop new, and examine existing, measures of public service outcomes.
UK2020 Vision: A Far-Sighted Approach to Transforming Public Services (PDF) Cumming, Lauren M., 2010 2020 Public Services Trust A report on the long-term challenges facing public services in the next 10 years, namely, reconciling rising citizen expectaitons and demand with severe restrictions on governement expenditure. UK
Public Services Inside Out: Putting Co-production into Practice (PDF) Boyle, David; Slay, Julia and Stephens, Lucie , 2010 National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)
A report which looks at the challenges faced by public service user involvement initiatives through analysis of contemporary examples. It also makes recommendations on how policy can be re-thought to support its wider spread.
UKBeyond Beveridge: Principles for 2020 Public Services (PDF) 2020 PST, 2010 2020 Public Services Trust/Royal Society of Arts (RSA) The 2020 Public Services Trust is a research centre founded to stimulate deeper understanding of the challenges facing public services in the medium term. This interim report sets out the limits of the UK's current public services settlement, and the urgent need for a systematic and long-term approach to reform. The Trust will publish its final conclusions in summer 2010. UK
What do people want, need and expect from public services? (PDF) Ipsos Mori, 2010 2020 Public Services Trust/Royal Society of Arts (RSA) An up to date quantitative and qualitative analysis of the public's priorities and anxieties around public services. It suggests that there may be some appetite for citizens playing a more active role in deciding or reviewing the actions of public services. UK
Financing the United Kingdom's Welfare States (PDF) Howard Glennerster, 2010 2020 Public Services Trust/Royal Society of Arts (RSA) An academic analysis asserting that to continue to fund the current range of public services, reduce child poverty and help the poorest elderly people pay for the costs of climate change will require an additional 4-6% of UK GDP over the next 20 years. UK
Professional and Business Services: A 2020 Vision for Growth Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, 2010 A paper which looks at the growth and future potential of the UK professional and business services industry (e.g. legal, R&D, postal, ICT). This also contains a government response to the 2008 Public Services Industry Review.