Monthly Archives: February 2011

A problem shared, by Simon Parker

28 February 2011 | Simon Parker

Can shared services help save the front line from cuts? It depends on the approach taken Read more...

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Not quite the heirs to Blair, by Conor Ryan

28 February 2011 | Conor Ryan

The coalition government has embraced much of New Labour’s approach to public service reform but ditched the targets and direction that made its policies work Read more...

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Ireland: new politics, old problems, by Conor Ryan

28 February 2011 | Conor Ryan

Ireland’s election result is no less groundbreaking for having been largely predictable. Fine Gael is likely to form a strong government with Labour, between them holding 110+ seats out of 166 in the Dail. They will seek better terms than the crippling 5.8% interest rates that they have to pay on their European bailout loans. Read more...

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Big Society: where it all went wrong, by Richard Selwyn

28 February 2011 | Richard Selwyn

Dark clouds are gathering around the big society. The idea is a sound one, but despite Cameron’s passion his lack of planning is raising the prospect of its death-knell. It’s a classic error – rushing out the shiny new initiative before thinking about those boring things like change management and implementation. Unfortunately the political landscape is littered with shipwrecks – will the big society be the latest? Read more...

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Time to back the Scotland Bill, by Iain Macwhirter

25 February 2011 | Iain Macwhirter

The Scotland Bill heralds an unprecedented transfer of fiscal power to Holyrood. It has its flaws but the SNP is wrong not to support the plans Read more...

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To give and receive, by Alan Edwards and Robin Thomas

25 February 2011 | Alan Edwards and Robin Thomas

A wide range of British public services could gain from the philanthropic approach that flourishes in the US and Canada Read more...

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Market flat-earthers should heed the evidence, by Ian Mulheirn

25 February 2011 | Ian Mulheirn

With the white paper on public service reform imminent, many on the Left are using the opportunity to discredit the reform agenda begun by Labour. Market-based reforms face massive challenges if they are to succeed in a period with little public money to provide the necessary conditions. But they are the means to achieving better, cheaper services. The government’s broad agenda is right, and it’s time that the market flat-earthers took another look at the evidence. Read more...

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Free councils from Whitehall’s purse strings, by Brian Connell

25 February 2011 | Brian Connell

The coalition’s ‘Local Government Resource Review’ announced last autumn may have failed to send Twitter into meltdown or dominate national news agendas, but the current work of ministers and civil servants in Whitehall has the potential to radically transform the economic and democratic fortunes of towns and cities all over the country. Read more...

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Fact and fiction on markets, by John Perry

25 February 2011 | John Perry

Ian Mulheirn, director of the Social Market Foundation,wrote on the PF Blog this week welcoming the prime minister’s article in the Daily Telegraph . This called for competition to be the norm in public services.  The PM argued that what has prevented decentralisation is that Whitehall wants to hold the purse strings. It should now relinquish them and allow the market to determine value for money. Read more...

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Coalition of the willing? by David Worskett

24 February 2011 | David Worskett

The Cooperation and Competition Panel has published its interim findings into primary care trusts’ use of the ‘any willing provider’  policy for elective care in the NHS. Read more...

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