By Andrew Sentance, Senior Economic Adviser, PwC Public spending is under pressure. Across the western world, and especially in Europe, governments are struggling to contain high levels of public spending and borrowing. According to the OECD, the UK government spent 49% of GDP in 2012, and across the euro area...
By Nick Jones, Global Director of PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre The Queen’s Speech, the quaint tradition by which the government of the day sets out its annual legislative programme amid much pomp and no little ceremony, contained few surprises. Nevertheless, it was still of real interest in showing the...
By Andy Key, Central Government partner, and Quentin Cole, a business recovery partner Austerity is biting across the public sector. The next Spending Review is fast approaching and the scale of the challenge means that efficiency savings are no longer enough. Radical change is needed if services are to truly...
By Scott Bailey, Partner, PwC With June's Spending Review likely to usher in another round of cuts, organisations across the public sector are under intense pressure to make savings while continuing to deliver good outcomes for people. Removing complexity can be key to both improving efficiency and delivering better outcomes,...
By Andy Ford, Partner, PwC There’s no getting away from it. By 2018, local government will look very different from today, with some predicting as much as a 50% cut in council budgets since the last spending review. With the next round of spending cuts looming, local government has a...
By Nick M Jones The combination of increasing demand and a tightening financial envelope means that business as usual is no longer an option for the NHS. Our recent report with the Nuffield Trust – The anatomy of health spending – reviews NHS spending and productivity over the period 2003/04...
By Esmond Birnie, Chief Economist in Northern Ireland When we refer to “the economy”, we tend to focus on the UK as the sum of everything that comprises the national economy. So, if we say that growth in 2013 will be around 1.1%, we’re not talking about a specific region,...
By Roger Marsh, Government and Public Sector Leader, PwC North Public service providers are stretched - right across the country, as they juggle shrinking budgets, economic uncertainty and rising demand for their services. These pressures are being felt particularly keenly in the North, which has been disproportionately affected by the...
By Tina Hallett, Central Government Lead Partner The civil service is often criticised for its track record at delivering projects on time and on budget. But the commercial world doesn’t fare any better in this regard, with two out of every three private sector change programmes failing to achieve their...
By Nick Jones, Global Director of PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre Change and complexity are a constant challenge. Disruptive events, both ‘black’ and ‘grey’ swan, seem to be happening faster than ever. And economic conditions are becoming tougher for all, even in the BRIC economies. While more developed regions such...
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