Social, economic and technical changes had transformed the world in whi public services operate. There were a number of fundamental drivers behind the need to reform Britain's public services. First, there had been huge social, economic and technological changes. The UK had an ageing population and there had been huge shifts in size and composition of households and family structure, in particular major changes in patterns of cohabitation, marriage and divorce. These changes meant that services had to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population. Alongside this, there had been massive growth in service industries, and technical innovations, such as the Internet, had opened up wholly new ways of delivery services ranging from childcare, to education and training, and to health and social care.