fried breakfast #1, and debate on public services policy

Equally quintessential to cheap conference wine and canapes is the process of rolling out of bed 5 minutes before they stop serving breakfast at the hotel. So after the first of what I'm sure will be many, many fried breakfasts on the conference trail, it was over to the Marroitt for the first panel of the day... on Public Services.

Excuse me, what time do they stop serving breakfast?

Our panel today agreed that future of public services will be based around decentralisation of funding and decision making.

Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb commended ippr's work on public services, very nice of him, and went on to discuss the benefits of devolving power to local communities and service users.

Julian Astle from the Centre Forum thinktank agreed that the Liberal Democrats are in the right place with this policy, but notes that they are lagging on the issue of further devolution from the local communities to the individual.

Astle said that policy based on diversity, provision, and choice is putting the Liberal Democrats in the the right place, but the Conservatives are also using this sort of language. According to Astle, it's essential for the Lib Dems to bring fairness to the forefront of this debate in order to differentiate their policy.