AgendaNi: Rethinking government | Grosvenor House Conference Centre, Belfast, Tuesday 26th October

Rethinking government

Date: Now over
Venue: Grosvenor House Conference Centre, Belfast

Asking the difficult questions...

At a time when the Northern Ireland public sector is facing significant spending cuts, with an initial challenge to identify £128 million in savings, there is an opportunity to ask some of the bigger questions about the role and scope of government here and whether it is sustainable in the current stringent spending environment. This half day seminar has been organised to consider some of these questions, including whether government can continue, into the future, to do everything that it does at present or whether there are different, perhaps better and even cheaper ways of delivering services.

Size of government...?
Northern Ireland has been engaged in the Review of Public Administration for almost a decade but yet some of the major reforms have not been implemented, or in some cases even agreed upon so far. With harsh spending cuts imminent, now is the time to seriously consider the size of government in Northern Ireland and where and how this could be reduced in order to make efficiency savings.

Bigger private sector...?
Northern Ireland will have to take its share of the overall cuts in the UK Budget but the implications here will be even more significant than elsewhere with an economy which is so dependent on the public sector. It is accepted that the private sector in Northern Ireland is too small and that there is a need to rebalance the economy. With the likelihood of fewer public sector jobs and the decrease in public spending, now is the time to start looking at ways of growing the private sector by considering areas where private sector expertise could be deployed to assist with service delivery.

Stronger third sector...?
One of the key policy areas for the new coalition government is that of the ‘Big Society’ – the idea that people should be more involved in their local community and public services necessitating the redistribution of power away from central government towards local government and beyond to communities and neighbourhoods. The voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland already have an important role in providing core services and it is important to examine the future of these services as budget cuts hit.

Seminar programme

This morning seminar will examine all these issues and more by way of an expert panel of local and visiting speakers. A key feature of the seminar will be a round-table discussion, featuring representatives from the local political parties, who will share their views on issues around the size and scope of government. The seminar represents an excellent opportunity for all those with a role or interest in the key issues around providing better public services, tackling budget cuts and making efficiency savings to come together for discussion and debate.

Featured speakers include:

	Eamonn Butler, Director Adam Smith Institute		Simon Hamilton, MLA DUP
	Jackie Henry Partner, Deloitte		Seamus McAleavey Chief Executive, NICVA
	Mitchel McLaughlin, MLA Sinn Féin		Joanne Stuart Chairman Institute of Directors Northern Ireland
	Chris Lyttle MLA Alliance Party