Public Service Futures: Welfare States in the Digital Age

Public Service Futures
By Andrew Harrop , Kate Murray
Published 20 April 2020
Topics Public Services , Democracy , Technology

Public services across the UK and Europe have faced profound change in recent times as a result of spending pressures, market reforms and the impact of digital technologies. They will need to adapt to further challenges still, not least the increasingly urgent need to tackle the climate emergency. How can our welfare states become smarter at providing good services? How can they ensure a voice for all citizens? And how can they best innovate without losing their ethos?

In this collection, contributors from across Europe and the UK set out some answers to these questions. Their essays offer an insight into how the 2020s can be a time of great possibility for public services, with huge potential for new technologies to meet our shared needs and strong public interest institutions working in collaboration not competition.

This publication was supported by a grant from the Dartmouth Street Trust.

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Opinion

Great possibilities

20 April 2020

ANDREW HARROP: It is the right moment to take stock of Europe’s public services and consider their future over the next 10 to 15 years.

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Editors

Andrew Harrop

Andrew Harrop is general secretary of the Fabian Society.

@andrew_harrop

Kate Murray

Kate Murray is the editor of the Fabian Review.

@kate_murray

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