What role can prevention play in boosting public service productivity?

The new government has put prevention at the heart of public service reform plans. So what difference could this approach make? By intervening sooner, problems may not escalate, become embedded, or arise in the first place – meaning preventative services could be a major contributor to public sector productivity.

With spending likely to be tight over the coming years, the theory behind an "invest to save" scheme is clear – but in practice it has been hard to implement, and cashable savings have often proved elusive.

This event brought together a panel of experts to discuss:

• Is it realistic to expect preventative programmes to deliver cashable savings?
• How quickly could a shift towards a more preventative approach improve public service productivity?
• What are the respective roles of the centre of government, departments, and frontline services in delivering this shift and realising productivity improvements?
• How can additional investments be made in prevention when acute demand is high and spending tight?

To discuss these questions and more, our panel included:

• Dr Thomas Waite, Deputy Chief Medical Officer
• Cllr Gillian Ford, Deputy Leader of Havering Council, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health
• Daniel Sperrin, Partner at Newton
• Moira Wallace, former Permanent Secretary

The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

We would like to thank Newton for kindly supporting this event.

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