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Public sector savings 'essential' Public sector savings 'essential'
(about 11 hours later)
Public services in Wales such as the NHS, police and councils must become more efficient to avoid cuts, says First Minister Carwyn Jones.Public services in Wales such as the NHS, police and councils must become more efficient to avoid cuts, says First Minister Carwyn Jones.
He is due to outline plans for a new programme aiming aim to ensure taxpayers get value for money at Wales' first Public Services Summit. He outlined plans for a new programme which aims to ensure taxpayers get value for money at Wales' first Public Services Summit.
He will tell senior public sector figures there will be growing pressure on budgets in coming years. He warned senior public sector managers there would be growing pressure on budgets in the coming years.
The meeting will come ahead of Labour's party conference on Saturday. The meeting is ahead of Labour's party conference on Saturday.
Mr Jones said he believed money made from efficiency savings can then be used to protect vital front-line services. Mr Jones told the summit at Cardiff City Hall that he believed money made from efficiency savings could then be used to protect vital front-line services.
The first minister is expected to set out his proposals for an efficiency and innovation programme that he believes will ensure all public bodies in Wales make the best use of their finances. "These are exceptional times which will require exceptional leadership from us all to ensure that we deliver for our communities through the testing times ahead," he said.
He is expected to tell the summit in Cardiff's City Hall: "If we are to avoid financial pressures turning into crude service cuts, we have to accelerate the pace of change dramatically. "We are all facing difficult decisions and choices. Past experience has shown too clearly what happens when financial pressures are translated into all-round cuts in services and front-line jobs - with those in greatest need often taking the biggest hit.
"We are aiming to work with our partners in developing a menu of the good practice and systems already up and running - and then mainstreaming these ideas across the public sector. "That is unacceptable. As a nation, we have to do everything we can to narrow the equality gap, not widen it."
"The potential is great - for example, every 1% efficiency gain in Wales' public sector procurement budget could save us up to £50m a year, and front-line services need that money." He said future public service summits would be held every four to six months, and would build on the "Team Wales approach" adopted by the economic summits during the recession.
The programme will be driven by a streamlined board chaired by Minister for Business and Budget Jane Hutt and monitored by the summit. "I want today to be about establishing a shared commitment to building the better way and for us to pool our effort and creativity. Building this response is everyone's responsibility," he said.
Jane Hutt, Minister for Business and Budget, said Wales was facing an "increasingly tight series of budgets and the challenge was to become both more efficient and more innovative".
"There are no simple answers, but we have to do better," she said.
"We have to accelerate change. We are beginning to see just what we can achieve if we start from the needs of the citizen.
"Efficient services across the public sector are nearly always better services."