The 2021 spending review: the pressures on public services after the pandemic
With a week to go until Rishi Sunak sets out his multi-year spending review, the chancellor faces difficult decisions about how to fund public services.\n\nThe pandemic has hit services hard. Children have lost hours of learning, waiting times for court cases are longer, and a backlog for operations has built up.\n\nSo what spending choices must Sunak make? What is the pandemic\u2019s impact on spending, staff, and service performance? And where might pressures intensify in the next three years?\n\nAs the Institute for Government and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy launch the sixth edition of Performance Tracker \u2013 a data-driven analysis of the performance of key public services in England, including prisons, hospitals, schools, police and adult social care \u2013 its lead author Graham Atkins, Associate Director at the Institute for Government, presented the key findings.\n\nTo discuss, our panel included:\n\nJustine Greening, former Secretary of State for Education and former Economic Secretary to the Treasury\nAnoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor at the New Statesman\nMike Driver CB, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)\nThe event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government, with an introduction by Jeffrey Matsu, Chief Economist at CIPFA.\n\nWe would like to thank the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) for supporting this event.