Our latest ‘Picture of Public Services’ report sets out some important areas for public service delivery in Wales.

The report is split into three parts – what happened with public services between 2010 and 2020, how they have responded to COVID-19, and what we think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for public services in future. As well as facing the pandemic and economic uncertainty, public services in Wales must respond to the global crisis of climate change. 

The Welsh Government has already allocated £5.1 billion to the COVID-19 response in 2020-21 and has at least an additional £2.6 billion available in 2021-22. Public finances are uncertain but are likely to be tight for some time; and for services that were already stretched, the pandemic has created new challenges. For example, it has been estimated that the NHS will need between £152 million and £292 million each year for 4 years to address the waiting list backlog.

Despite this, our report emphasises that there is a chance to learn from aspects of the pandemic response to change the way services are provided for the better. It highlights five areas of public service transformation:

• Systems and culture to support new approaches to service delivery.
• Purposeful collaboration. 
• Long-term financial and service planning that supports a rigorous and realistic approach to prevention. 
• Harnessing digital technology to make services more accessible. 
• Using data and information to learn and improve across the whole public service system.