Sustaining our services

摘要

It can be easy to assume that there are mechanical rules to government and managing public services; that if you pull hard enough on a given policy lever or push funding to certain projects or services, then you will achieve a set series of outcomes. This mechanical approach to managing public services permeates through much of our public policy debate. During the elections you could see it in the way the various political parties competed for votes, by offering, for example, 1,000 new border security staff, extending opening hours for doctors' surgeries or more services in return for opaque targets for both spend and savings.