Central government

Emergency exit

16 May 2012 | Andrew Jepp

Both town halls and Whitehall need to establish effective exit strategies should their suppliers go bust. Service delivery can be outsourced, but responsibility for it cannot Read more

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Cost-cutting and cash control

10 May 2012 | Mike Turley

An analysis of government data shows that billions of pounds could be saved if changes were made to financial management, fraud detection and cash flow Read more

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Counting the cost of capital cuts

1 May 2012 | Mark Luntley

Cutting infrastructure spending is not a long-term solution to our financial problems. It simply replaces a visible financial deficit with a hidden maintenance backlog Read more

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Bonus that doesn’t fit the bill

1 May 2012 | Nick Raynsford

There’s something wrong with the New Homes Bonus, not least that it isn’t stimulating much actual new house building. An urgent review is needed Read more

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Payment by Results is no panacea

30 April 2012 | Andrew Neilson

The Ministry of Justice is piloting Payment by Results to try to prevent prisoners from reoffending. But experiments so far have not proved a success and it remains questionable whether this is an appropriate model Read more

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Whitehall woes revisited

27 April 2012 | Colin Talbot

The Jeremy Hunt debacle raises again the issue of Whitehall reform. Our reputedly ‘Rolls Royce’ civil service actually has deep flaws in its institutional make-up and needs to be modernised Read more

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Alexander rules OK?

26 April 2012 | Alan Finch

Plans by the chief secretary to the Treasury to introduce new contingency requirements across Whitehall risk creating unhealthy competition and introducing a blame culture Read more

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Things can only get worse

24 April 2012 | Clive Sparrow

New fiscal rules announced by the government are a crude curtain raiser to the next Spending Review, which is likely to be even tougher than the current financial restrictions Read more

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Farce over ‘facilities time’

12 April 2012 | Colin Talbot

Coalition plans to restrict trade union activities reflect a view that public sector staff are the ‘enemy within’. This is an out-of-date and out-of-touch approach to employee relations Read more

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Gove plays a long game on education

10 April 2012 | Conor Ryan

Michael Gove is quietly pursuing his education reforms. But several challenges will determine whether he is going to make the grade Read more

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