New development: UK government ambitions for a preventative agenda— fact or ‘futurewash’?

Abstract

Local government in England is responsible for many preventative actions, from youth work to encouraging households to reduce levels of waste. A high priority for prevention would imply maintained funding levels, or at least a decline no worse than overall. However, analysis suggests that preventative spend by English local authorities declined from 32.4% of spend in 2010/11 to 30.6% in 2011/ 12: a proportional fall of 5.5%. Similar effects have been observed in other European countries. This suggests that short-termism is taking precedence as budget cuts hit.

Keywords:

• Local authority
• prevention
• public expenditure
• public service productivity
• trends

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for comments from Joe Farrington-Douglas, Will Horwitz, Ben Jupp, David Leigh, and other participants at roundtable discussions held in 2013 and organized by the Early Action Task Force.