The US has been unexpectedly knocked off the top of an influential league table ranking the world’s most competitive nations, while Britain is precariously close to losing its place in the top 10.

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Executive Summary

By increasing productivity by 3%, the public sector can free up over £6 billion per annum to re-invest in services, making a significant contribution to Britain’s economic performance. But this will not be achieved without a step change in the management of public services. Better performance management is the key to world-class public services, but current systems are often not functioning effectively. We therefore propose the use of the performance management framework outlined in this report, to help develop existing systems and processes. Working within this central recommendation, we have also drawn out and discussed the need for:

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2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

As part of its preparations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07), the Government is taking forward a fundamental assessment of its expenditure, with the aim of maximising value for money across all public spending. By building on the progress of the 2004 Spending Review efficiency programme and pursuing even more ambitious reforms over the CSR07 period, this programme will enable the Government to sustain the momentum of public service improvement and release the resources needed to meet new priorities and challenges in the decade ahead. In the run-up to CSR07 the Government is:

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