Public Services and Financial Austerity : Getting Out of the Hole?

As countries across the Western world struggle to deal with the financial stability of their public services, there is no doubt that the current crisis affecting the public sector is not only the worst post-war, but perhaps the worst in the last hundred years. The current thinking about the economy and the public sector has not only contributed to the financial difficulties but may even have created some of the problems in the first place. As public sector reforms try to find a solution to the crisis, it seems unlikely that continuing with the same approach will provide a solution to the issue of public debt that will be politically or socially acceptable. This book argues that current policies may have some measure of success, but it may be "at a price we cannot afford". It proposes a radical alternative based upon a sound understanding of how organisations and the economy work and discusses practical ways it could be implemented. It also explores the threats, as well as the opportunities, that such an approach will face.

ROGER LATHAM Visiting Fellow at Nottingham Business School, UK, and the current President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). After an early career in the City he worked extensively in the public sector, reaching senior positions as Treasurer and Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council. He was widely regarded as an original and radical thinker on public sector finance issues, and contributed to or chaired a number of groups and working parties on reforms to public services. He was also President of the Society of County Treasurers in 2000/1. He continues to research and write about public sector issues. MALCOLM PROWLE Professor of Business Performance at Nottingham Business School, UK and Visiting Professor at the Open University Business School, UK. He has over forty years experience of public services (in the UK and overseas) in central government, local government, health and education. He is a member of CIPFA and has held senior financial management posts in public service organisations and had many years of consultancy experience with two international consulting firms (KPMG and PWC). He has advised Ministers, Ambassadors, senior civil servants, public service managers and service professionals on a variety of public policy and policy implementation issues and has had several periods of secondment to Whitehall departments of state. He has also been financial adviser to a House of Commons Select Committee, adviser to two shadow ministers and a consultant to the World Health Organisation. He has led and participated in many funded research projects on public sector themes, has published six books and numerous research reports and papers in academic and professional journals.