So, thanks to the early birth of the new Cameron child, Nick Clegg looks set to stay in the government hot seat for a little while longer. He will be hoping that the young guns at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, having worked through August to show that the first Coalition Budget was not in fact progressive, now take a bit of a break. Read more...
Central government opinion
It’s all Greek to George Osborne, by Colin Talbot
One of the most disingenuous refrains coming from the coalition is the attempt to compare the UK with Greece, and suggest that unless brutal action is taken we will see interest rates soar as ‘the markets’ lose confidence in the British government’s ability to pay its debts. Read more...
17 August 2010 | Colin Talbot
Good riddance to CAA, by David Hodge
Internal performance management is a much better way to monitor council
services than external inspection, so the scrapping of an assessment method that made councils more accountable to central government than their residents was greeted with great delight. Read more...
5 August 2010 | David Hodge
Breaking the housing shortage chain, by Kathleen Kelly
With 1.76 million people on the waiting list for a local authority home on 1 April 2009, I can see why David Cameron might want to focus on ending tenure for life in council rented homes. But would it really deliver more homes to those who need them and a more efficient housing system? Read more...
5 August 2010 | Kathleen Kelly
Welfare reform: not so simple, by Stuart Adam & James Browne
The Department of Work and Pensions today published a consultation paper called 21st Century Welfare which sets out ideas for fundamental reforms to the benefits system. Read more...
30 July 2010 | Stuart Adam
Scenting the opportunities, by David Lipsey
Strangely, Labour is looking upbeat. With an earnest leadership campaign and some worrying tensions in the coalition, there are signs of new shoots Read more...
30 July 2010 | David Lipsey
Capital ideas, by Mark Hellowell
Prior to the election, a team of private finance experts in the Treasury carried out a review of proposals to find ways of fixing the ailing market for infrastructure finance, which has become increasingly expensive in the wake of the financial crisis. Read more...
16 July 2010 | Mark Hellowell
Free at last? By Mike Thatcher
When New Labour came to power all those years ago, it was regularly lampooned for the way it ‘hit the ground reviewing’. All manner of controversial issues were kicked into the long grass via reviews overseen by the great and good. Read more...
15 July 2010 | Mike Thatcher
Management misnomers, by Alan Leaman
In a recent survey by the Management Consultancies Association only 13 per cent of member companies reported that government departments had improved their understanding of the difference between management consultants/contractors and interim managers since the National Audit Office last reported on this topic in 2006. Read more...
12 July 2010 | Alan Leaman
A shameful way to conduct industrial relations, by Mark Serwotka
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude’s announcement that civil service redundancy pay would be capped at a level lower even than the rest of the public sector, represents an attack on not just civil servants, but all public sector workers. Read more...
9 July 2010 | Mark Serwotka
Regions after RDAs, by Kieran Larkin
So the government has announced its plans for economic development on the cheap. Regional development agencies will be replaced by Local Enterprise Partnerships by March 2012. The state of the government’s finances means that this is going to be a no-frills version of the economic policy of the past decade. But does this necessarily mean cities will be short-changed? Read more...
1 July 2010 | Kieran Larkin
To whom it may concern, by Duncan Brown
So, as a senior policy-wonk and HR adviser to this radical new coalition government, it’s quite obvious to me that our ambitious agenda of ’freedom, fairness and responsibility’ has to mean slashing public sector pay and pensions, and particularly targeting public sector ‘fat cats’, in order to bring down the £160bn deficit. George is in absolute agreement with me on this. Read more...
25 June 2010 | Duncan Brown
Pay now, pay later, by Peter Riddell
George Osborne has made a social, political and economic calculation with his first Budget. He is gambling on the benefits appearing by the next election Read more...
24 June 2010 | Peter Riddell
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