STATE OF THE NATION

We are in the middle of the worst economic and fiscal crisis to hit Britain in a generation and public services look set for big spending cuts; meanwhile politicians are fixated on the problem, but there is little sense that they have a clear strategy. This article explains the background to the setting up of the cross-party Commission on 2020 Public Services, which is founded on the recognition that it is time for the debate to go beyond decisions about what should be cut. The Commission is addressing the fundamental question of what the purpose of Britain's public services should be, and developing a vision which would replace traditional universalism with public services as mobilisers of social capacity. The article concludes with a call for a national conversation on the future of public services. (Quotes from original text)