One question being constantly put to the Coalition government is what’s plan B? The Spending Review plans are massively ambitious not just in reducing public spending but also in setting out plans for most of public spending up to 2014-15. What happens if things change, or this doesn’t work?

I was fascinated by the fact that every time George Osborne mentions the Office of Budget Responsibility he prefaces it with the word “independent”, almost to the extent you could easily think it was actually called the Independent Office of Budget Responsibility.

If there is one word that sums up yesterday’s Spending Review it is insecurity. Today Britain is a much less secure place to be than it was yesterday, nationally, socially and individually. And by the time the Spending Review is implemented in full we will all be feeling much less secure – we really will […]

More on the spending review later, but first I’ve just been hunting for the independent forecasts from the OBR on the public finances and I can find… nada.

Targets are a Bad Thing (1). So says this government, at least, and they have promised to make an even bigger bonfire of targets than the one for quangos. Public Service Agreements, the pinnacle of the New Labour system that set targets for government ministries introduced in 1998, are no more. Their cousins, Departmental Strategic […]

Dramatic developments in the Spending Review: it appears that the Government is going to protect the schools budget, in real terms, and that Defence is probably only going to be cut by 10% rather than 25%. What does this mean?

Next week at 12.30 GMT Chancellor George Osborne will rise in the House of Commons to present his Comprehensive Spending Review 2010. This will set out Departmental Spending Limits (DEL) for the fiscal years 2011-12 to 2014-15, and probably a lot more besides. What should we, and should we not, be looking for in CSR […]

“Francis Maude’s much-trailed announcement of his quango cull generated plenty of large numbers: 192 quangos are to be axed and a further 118 are to be reduced to 57 by mergers. Another 171 face “substantial” reform. In total, 648 of the existing 901 bodies will remain – but almost none have been left untouched.” Nick Timmins, FT, […]

I heard, yet again, David Cameron say this morning (on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme) that the new Coalition government had “done away with sofa government” and was making decisions properly around the table – they had “restored proper Cabinet government”. That might not be as good as it sounds….

First, can I apologise to my readers for a little “mission creep” in this blog? I’m afraid the politics of the last few months in Britain have been way too fascinating and I realise I have strayed into commenting too much on them rather than the central concern of this blog – public management issues. […]