A year on from the Comprehensive Spending Review and the Coalition Government's agenda of efficiency and reform continues. While this is undoubtedly a challenging time for the public sector, many see it as a real opportunity to do things differently – and better. This will require improvements in: the way tasks are tackled; internal restructuring; better use of IT; making better use of the private sector, whether through outsourcing or procuring new and innovative products and services; and creating new service delivery mechanisms, such as mutual and social enterprises. Closer working between public sector organisations, particularly local government and the NHS, is also envisaged. This conference will look at how public sector leaders can embrace this opportunity to make their organisations more efficient and more productive, and build a public sector fit for the future.

There are excellent examples of innovative initiatives being introduced across the public sector that are improving quality and value for money. The implementation of shared services has been identified as a key way to deliver efficiencies and productivity improvements, and the Local Government Association has predicted that local authorities will save hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade through collaborative working, such as sharing chief executives, merging back offices and joint procurement.