Levelling up or catching up what next for public services?
b'The pandemic has hit public services hard, creating backlogs - from children missing out on school lessons, to cancelled hospital operations and unheard court cases \\u2013 and leaving local authorities facing budget shortfalls.\\n\\nBut as the government focuses on post-pandemic economic recovery, its priority is to \\u2018level up\\u2019 parts of the country which have fallen behind in terms of economic growth, opportunity, and wellbeing. With limited resources, how can public services both address backlogs and \\u2018level up\\u2019? Has the pandemic made levelling up harder for public services? How, if at all, can public services contribute to levelling up? What should the government do to help them both catch-up and level-up?\\n\\nTo discuss these questions and more, the IfG was delighted to host an expert panel including:\\n\\nBaroness Armstrong, Chair of the House of Lords Public Services Committee\\nSaffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers\\nGeorgina Cox, Partner at PA Consulting\\nRachel Wolf, Founding Partner at Public First and former Education and Innovation Adviser to David Cameron.\\nThe event was chaired by Graham Atkins, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.\\n\\nWe would like to thank PA Consulting for kindly supporting this event.'