What role can prevention play in boosting public service productivity?

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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 they have been hard to implement, and cashable savings have often proved elusive.

This event will bring 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 will include:

• Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government
• Daniel Sperrin, Partner at Newton

The event will be chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director for public services at the Institute for Government, and we are pleased to be hosting this event in partnership with Newton.

Follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @IFGEvents or on Bluesky @instituteforgov.bsky.social and join in the conversation using #Prevention. 

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

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