Time to Think Radically
Wales’ public services are struggling in face of today’s unprecedented budget cuts. Yet more is coming.The economic, demographic, social and environmental pressures that will confront Wales in the medium and longer term will dwarf today’s challenges. For example, the costs of meeting the needs of the UK’s ageing population have been predicted by one organisation to outweigh today’s financial challenge by a factor of 9 to 1*.
The huge scale of these longer-term challenges will call into question many of the assumptions that have underpinned our public services, posing new challenges for policy makers, practitioners and communities.
We invite you to join us in re-thinking Wales Public Services for 2025 and beyond.
The Wales Public Services 2025 Programme is investigating the long-term financial, demographic and demand pressures confronting public services in Wales and possible responses. Hosted by Cardiff Business School and independent, the Programme is a unique partnership between Cardiff University and five national bodies in Wales: the Welsh Local Government Association, SOLACE Wales, the Welsh NHS Confederation, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Community Housing Cymru.
Our goal is to create a civic space in which public servants, civil society, politicians and people across Wales can engage in open, informed, radical debate on how our public services need to change and what we need to do to get there.
Established in 2012, the Programme works with national bodies, research bodies and think tanks across the UK, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Health Foundation, the Public Policy Institute for Wales, NESTA, Carnegie UK, the Wales Audit Office and others.
The Programme Director is Michael Trickey ([email protected]). As well as being the Programme Director he is also the Wales Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a leading social policy think-tank. Michael is a former civil servant and arts manager.
Research Associate Dr Daria Luchinskaya. She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick, and has a background in economics, area studies, and employment research. She is particularly interested in public services provision, education, and the labour market.
Research Assistant Joseph Ogle. Prior to joining WPS2025 he worked as a research economist at the Reserve Bank of India and as an economic consultant in Myanmar. Joseph is based in Cardiff at Cardiff University Business School.
The work is steered by a Programme Board:
Kevin Gardiner, Global Investment Strategist at Rothschild, (chair)
Alison Ward, CEO Torfaen County Borough Council (vice-chair)
Steve Martin, Director Public Policy Institute for Wales (principal investigator)
Jon Rae, Director of Resources WLGA
Ruth Marks, CEO Wales Council for Voluntary Action
Vanessa Young, Director Welsh NHS Confederation
Stuart Ropke, CEO Community Housing Cymru
Rob Whiteman, CEO Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
Martin Warren, Director for Wales, Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales
Ian Hargreaves, Professor of Digital Economy Cardiff
Mike Phelps, professional adviser to the board
* A Life Worth Living, Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, October 2011 (and supported by Office of Budget Responsibility projections).