After more than a decade of high investment in public services, managers will need to refocus and develop new skills. They will be judged on how well they are able to manage on squeezed budgets. They will need to take some very tough decisions. However, good decision-making is informed decision-making. It also requires long-term planning, particularly if services are not to suffer unreasonably and staff morale to sink to unacceptable levels. It will require the transfer of resources to frontline delivery and a new approach to back office functions.

Lean Government will brief delegates on the public sector financial environment for the next few years. It will brief delegates on new ‘Lean’ approaches to delivering improved services, ie. delivering more with less, and the change management needed for implementation.

Public sector procurement amounts to £175bn a year, approaching 40% of non-benefits/non-pension spend. The Operational Efficiency Programme stresses the importance of improved procurement in securing savings for the public sector, particularly through collaboration. The programme will refer to this and the ‘leaner’ approach to procurement that is needed in order to avoid disproportionate and damaging cuts in in-house personnel.

The afternoon includes a session by Sir Michael Bichard, who wrote the final part of the Operational Efficiency Programme report. In it, he highlights the opportunities that exist beyond the traditional understanding of operational efficiency. Local authorities, their partners and frontline professionals can help deliver savings by collaborating and innovating across the public sector, especially if protected from the burdens of unnecessary or excessive bureaucracy. It is this freedom that can create the environment for ‘Lean’, and to being able to adopt a more radical approach to delivering improvement and efficiencies. This capability should be further enhanced through the strengthening of Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships. This section of the report could herald a fundamental change in the way public services are delivered.

The conference will also stage a panel debate on what public service delivery might look like in 2020. Participants will include Sir Michael Bichard, Keith Davis (Director of Efficiency Practice, National Audit Office), Ben Jupp (Cabinet Office) and Graham White (HR Director, Westminster City Council).