Ministers not on course to meet their objectives, including to shift power from Whitehall to local areas, says IfG
Keir Starmer’s drive to overhaul public services is failing to live up to its aims of shifting power from Whitehall to local areas, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) has found.
Last summer, the government set out its three guiding principles for reform aimed at making public services such as the NHS, court system and children’s social care easier to access and better at helping people.
The objectives were to make public services “organised around people’s lives”, to improve outcomes by focusing on prevention of problems, and devolving power to local areas that understand the needs of their communities best.
However, the IfG’s analysis found that none of these were on course to happen by the next election, which is due by summer 2029.
