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| The delivery of public services has become increasingly complex. To some extent, this complexity is driven by increasing inter-dependence: between national policy and local delivery of public services; between national public sector organisations themselves; between deliverers and the citizen; and between the public and the private or voluntary sectors, with public services increasingly being delivered by third parties e.g. through Public-Private Partnerships. Understanding these inter-dependencies in public service delivery is an issue of fundamental importance in translating national policy into delivery on the ground.
We've set out below some of our recent studies which we believe have relevance for national/central/federal governments. | |
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May 2008 | Building new Europe’s infrastructure: Public private partnerships in central and eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is experiencing unprecedented levels of activity in projects aimed at modernising public and social infrastructure, as the region works to meet its estimated €500bn total infrastructure investment need. This paper provides a brief background on current developments in the infrastructure sector in the CEE region, highlights several major upcoming opportunities, outlines the key practical challenges in bidding for these projects successfully and shares lessons learnt from our experience on how to deliver them. In addition to providing a backdrop on infrastructure activity in the CEE region overall, the paper focuses on five major territories where PPP opportunities are the most plentiful - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and the Czech Republic. |  |
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Mar 2008 | Regulate & Collaborate: Government & Global CEO
Our new annual study, 'Regulate & Collaborate: Government and the Global CEO', compares and contrasts the viewpoints of CEOs and top-level government officials on regulation and the extent of collaboration between the public and private sectors and comments on the extent of government-to-government collaboration, the global challenge of climate change and the future for public-private relationships. This report builds upon PricewaterhouseCoopers prestigious Annual Global CEO Survey, launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which for the first time this year includes views from an international sample of public sector leaders as well as those from business CEOs. |  |
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Mar 2008 | Confronting corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme
Efforts by business, governments and non-governmental organisations in the last decade have given the fight against corruption considerable momentum. But significant challenges lie ahead. Confronting corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme is a PricewaterhouseCoopers report that examines what companies are currently doing to manage the risk of corruption, what steps they should take to better protect themselves in the future and the vital roles both Government and business have to play: governments to implement and enforce anti-corruption measures, business to implement and vigorously enforce anti-corruption programmes. |  |
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Mar 2008 | The value of PFI: hanging in the balance (sheet)?
This publication looks at the impact of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in the light of the impending adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the UK Government from 2008/2009 onwards. The new standards are likely to bring most PFI projects on balance sheet and so the accounting driver for public bodies to procure projects through PFI will disappear.
The paper asks whether this matters. Has PFI brought about the benefits hoped for? To the extent it has, what has been the contribution of private finance? How important is the 'F' in 'PFI'? And will the impending accounting changes actually open up the way towards structuring projects more effectively? |  |
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Nov 2007 | The road ahead for public service delivery - Delivering on the customer promise
Public sector leaders around the world face a common set of challenges if their services are to meet the increased expectations of their customers – both citizens and businesses. This study identifies these challenges and shares lessons learnt, from examples around the world, to offer a structured approach in support of public sector leaders in their work to improve public services and deliver on the customer promise. | |
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September 2007 | Public Services at the Crossroads How should we define UK public services and what aims should we have for them? We have been supporting this ippr project which revisits the case for the reform of public services in the UK and charts a way ahead. It argues that public service reform should now focus on getting the relationships right between central and local government, services and their workforce, citizens and public service users. This requires not just a change of approach on the part of central government, but a new a new set of bargains and responsibilities on all sides, with information and accountability at the heart of a new system of public service improvement. The report is being published as a contribution to the debate in the run-up to the Comprehensive Spending Review. | |
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September 2007 | It’s all about you: Citizen-centred welfare What kind of welfare state does the UK want ten years from now? And how might we get there? These key areas of research are explored in this ippr report, supported by PwC. The report, a collection of essays, sets out what a new approach might look like and how it would operate. The essays make the case for a welfare system based on a fair contract between the state, citizens and civil society, leading the way to greater personalisation of services with more people supported off benefits and into work. | |
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September 2007 | Consumer insight in public services This report is a summary of the findings from a participative workshop which took place in the UK to explore the experiences of young people moving in and out of employment. Participants' views were sought on a new service that means that they only have to register their changes of circumstances once, rather than to multiple government agencies. Senior civil servants also participated in this workshop which provided them first hand experience of customer insight research. | |
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July 2007 | Saving the planet - can tax and regulation help?
The appetite for addressing climate change has never been greater and with the publication of the Climate Change Bill and the energy white paper, the direction of current UK Government policy is now clearer. While views are regularly expressed by consumers and individual businesses, there is a lack of hard and fast evidence on business opinion in this area. To understand the perceptions of business, PricewaterhouseCoopers commissioned a survey of companies across a wide spectrum of industries to understand business’ views of the UK Government’s use of tax and regulation to manage the environmental impact of business. | |
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July 2007 | One for all: active welfare and the single working-age benefit
What are the best options for a single working-age benefit that actively supports welfare-to-work policy? PwC is supporting an ippr project investigating citizen-centric welfare. The report is being issued by chapter. Following on from the release of a chapter exploring what a fair welfare contract might look like and what it would take to achieve one, this chapter shows that how the current system presents barriers to people who want to move into work and proposes one flat rate benefit for people out of work in place the multiple benefits and allowances currently available in the UK.
This chapter forms part of a report It's all about you: citizen-centred welfare, edited by ippr’s Jim Bennett and Graeme Cooke, to be published in September 2007. | |
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May 2007 | Signed. Sealed. Delivered?
Are outsourcing contracts delivering benefits for the public sector? PricewaterhouseCoopers addresses the questions surrounding the delivery of UK public sector outsourcing programmes. | |
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Apr 2007 | Investing in HOPE: lessons from the USA on mixed communities
The HOPE VI programme in the USA has pioneered a unique public-private approach to mixed communities that has resulted in housing developments that are viable, attractive to the market and third party investors, and sustainable over the long term. | |
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Mar 2007 | Conference on international development:
post-conference summary
PwC’s second annual international development conference was held on 22 November 2006. The conference was attended by over 180 delegates from public, private and voluntary sectors who work in international development agencies to reform the public sectors in developing and transitioning countries.
The objective of the conference was to discuss ways to bridge the gap between the strategic intent and design of development programmes and to seek innovative approaches to implementation and delivery on the ground. | |
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Feb 2007 | Guarding privacy in the federal government: a holistic approach
Pressure for the US federal government to protect the personal data and privacy of the American public is stronger than ever. The likelihood of privacy breaches occurring has increased with the enhanced portability of data on laptops, flash drives, cell phones, and other mobile devices. Mistakes in information security now have severe ramifications, including damage to public trust and the high cost of an often lengthy recovery period. As a result, senior executives at federal agencies are now wrestling with how to design and effectively implement comprehensive, strategic privacy programs. PricewaterhouseCoopers Washington Federal Practice, along with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), recently examined the federal government’s progress in implementing privacy programs. | |
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Feb 2007 | Building trust in emissions reporting
A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Building trust in emissions reporting highlights the key characteristics of the world's main emission trading schemes, presents a new vision for compliance in emissions trading and calls for global action to develop this. | |
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Jan 2007 | Steering through change - winning the debate on road pricing
IPPR report
A combination of rising levels of car ownership and increasing travel by car has led to two major problems associated with road transport for the UK: growing levels of congestion and increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which already form a significant proportion of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Road pricing – the variable charging of road space by time and location – could be useful in successfully combating these problems. But, despite a broad ‘elite’-level consensus on the principle of road pricing in the UK, public attitude arguably remains the key barrier to its introduction. | |
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Nov 2006 | Connecting public sector pay to service delivery
Pay in the UK public sector should be better aligned with the needs of public services in order to increase efficiency and provide a motivated workforce. The design of pay progression and performance pay should be based on the jobs people are doing and those jobs should be based on the service delivery models within which they are working. We believe the over-centralised decision making prevents this from happening. It also means that inadequate account is taken of market rates of pay, including the different levels of pay which should be applied in different parts of the UK. | |
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Aug 2006 | The crisis in federal government succession planning:
what's being done about it
Without strong leaders, there are no strong nations. Although this has been true since time immemorial, never in recent history has the need for outstanding government leaders been more acute than it is today. In the midst of global political uncertainty and threats to national security, the US government urgently needs leaders who think creatively, develop effective strategy and respond with speed and competence to high-pressure situations. | |
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July 2006 | The journey to the interface
Demos report
Drawing on over 50 interviews with service innovators from the public, private and voluntary sectors in the UK The journey to the interface makes the case for a fresh approach to public service reform – an approach that is less about competition and contestability, and more about closing the gap between what people want and need, and what service organisations do. | |
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July 2006 | The fiscal maze: Parliament, government and public
money
Hansard Society report
On 4 July 2006, the Hansard Society published The fiscal maze: Parliament, government and public money, which looks at how the UK Parliament holds government to account for the money it raises and it spends on our behalf. The report argues that Parliament’s scrutiny of taxation, expenditure and public services is fundamental to our political system but that Parliament could and should do more to make an impact and secure full accountability from government. | |
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June 2006 | Africa's public sector challenges
In this issue of Insight*, we explore a variety of topics, among them ‘Enhancing value from public expenditure’, ‘The Sarbanes-Oxley Act – lessons for the public sector’, ‘Achieving the millennium development goals in Africa’ ‘Laying the foundation for development in Southern Sudan’, and ‘Africa and corruption – how a little something is dangerous for your wealth’. | |
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May 2006 | Delivering the PPP promise
PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals the results of its survey of PPP activity and makes recommendations for further streamlining of the procurement process. | |
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Apr 2006 | Partnering in practice: new approaches to PPP
delivery
With better public services at the heart of government agendas, the need for private sector involvement in the delivery and management of these services has intensified. According to this paper, greater efficiencies and effectiveness can be delivered directly to the heart of public services through the emulation and development of private sector partnering practices. | |
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Dec 2005 | Inside the counting house: a discussion paper on parliamentary scrutiny of government finance
Hansard Society report
UK Parliament is responsible for authorising and scrutinising over £500 billion of public expenditure. This interim paper, part of a major study by the Hansard Society, considers how effectively this work is carried out. Inside the Counting House highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the current system ahead of a larger final report, published in spring 2006, which identifies options for reform. | |
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Sept 2005 | To the point: a blueprint for good targets
Social Market Foundation report
This report is a thorough examination of the UK Government’s use of targets in four public services: education, health, housing and the criminal justice system. The report sets out the design flaws in the current targets regime but concludes, however, that these flaws are the result of specific design problems. This report presents a range of practical proposals to improve the way in which targets are designed in the future. These are illustrated with a definition of a "good target", encapsulating the principles of how, and when, targets should be set. | |
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