Spending Review 2010: The Jury's Verdict
PwC's Citizens Jury believes that Government is moving in the right direction and has made some good decisions in the Spending Review, such as raising the state pension age. However, they feel that Government has not gone far enough to drive the kind of culture change they believe is necessary to move the public mindset from one of state dependency to personal responsibility.
The panel, which first met to consider the Spending Review in July, reconvened to discuss their reactions to the Chancellor's announcement, consider how well it had met their criteria for spending cuts and to look in detail at two specific areas of policy.
The Jury felt that charging for services is one way of driving culture change in order to achieve a better, fairer UK. This could include penalising people for missed appointments, or charging for premium services. They also believe that the goal of education should be to support children in becoming productive and responsible members of society.
PwC convened the Citizens Jury as part of the PwC response to the Spending Review 2010 consultation. We wanted to help inform the coalition Government’s thinking by providing insight into the public’s attitudes and views on the deficit, and to understand what is important to citizens when selecting where and how to make cuts in public spending.
