The public has rising expectations of what it wants from public services. The need to secure value for money is more important than ever. Ineffective service delivery means citizens do not receive the standard of service they expect or are entitled to, departments and agencies put at risk their key objectives, and money is wasted.

ICF GHK provides strategic and analytical support to government departments, agencies and local authorities, assisting them to design and deliver better public services. We have examined a wide range of programmes and projects across the UK and Europe. Our research has ensured that stretching outcome-related targets are set and we assist public sector partners to plan systematically for the delivery of these targets.

In practice our work involves working with public sector partners to develop and appraise options for service delivery, design a service in line with service users’ needs, review the delivery of the service to assess cost effectiveness and evaluate the quality of services. Our objective is to promote continuous improvement so that costs are kept under regular review and, as necessary, action is taken to improve cost effectiveness. We have particular expertise in performance management and the design and implementation of evaluation methodologies – covering ex ante, formative and summative approaches utilising a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. We are often called upon to explore the efficacy of performance management systems, including targets as a driver to raise performance, as well as the development of tailored performance management and monitoring approaches.