UK Cabinet Office | July 2025

PRIMO: “We talk a great deal about what is going wrong. About the countless threats of today and the risks of tomorrow facing our society, our ecosystems and our climate. A constant stream of analyses and opinions appears every day in the media and on social media. They are all true and reflect concern and even anger. There is criticism of our political leaders, who, in the eyes of many, are not making much of a difference, because they are heavily influenced by powerful lobbies representing large corporations and oligarchs. A veritable deluge of emotions.

I advocate a renaissance of public value, its design and its management. In other words, reconsidering and acting from the ground up. This publication is right up our street. This report examines the concept of ‘public value’, its origins, how it is measured and its application in public administration, with an emphasis on the need for professionalisation to improve the delivery of public value.

PRIMO shifts its focus from risk (potential damage to public value) to the value itself. This is because it places a much stronger emphasis on managing that value and highlights the wide range of factors that influence that management. It also makes better use of Mark H. Moore’s leading expertise in public administration and his scholarly approach. Furthermore, it places greater emphasis on the here and now, rather than on tomorrow and the day after. It focuses more on certainties and knowledge, and less on so-called uncertainties. It puts us in the driving seat rather than leaving us drowning in the immense abyss of what might happen. It puts our hands on the wheel.

The Public Design Evidence Review (PDER) explores the role and value of design in the public sector. An overview of the report package can be found below.

“This document is the second of three literature reviews commissioned by the cross-government Policy Design Community and written by an interdisciplinary team of academics. It discusses the concept of public value, its origins, measurement, and application in public administration, emphasising the need for professionalisation to enhance public value delivery. The wider project was commissioned as a non-exhaustive exploration of the relationship between public design and public value. It was conducted within rapid timeframes and prioritised cross-disciplinary working.