Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
It has been announced that the Treasury is to create a new chief financial officer role for central government. Professor Colin Talbot argues this is simply another impressive-sounding but ill-conceived attempt to quickly fix a complex problem. The coalition’s latest wheeze is to create a new government Chief Financial Officer, similar to the position found […]
By Dave Richards and Martin Smith Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Relationships between civil servants and ministers have become increasingly antagonistic, write Professors David Richards and Martin Smith. With incoherent reforms to the policy process and confusion over where accountability lies, there is a pressing need for reform – and for someone to lead it. The current imbroglio surrounding the Universal Credit scheme appears to […]
By Stephen Wilks Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Contracting out has become the ‘new normal’, writes Professor Stephen Wilks, with around half of all UK government spending now ending up in the pockets of private sector companies. But while public servants must operate within a robust constitutional framework, the same safeguards do not apply to the Public Services Industry. Which is the largest […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Professor Colin Talbot reflects on an Autumn statement that was really a mini-Budget – and some fine detail that hints at the Chancellor’s ultimate intentions. Much of the comment on today’s Autumn Statement by Chancellor George Osborne will focus on the specific measures he announced (there were lots) and on the short-term politics of the […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
The Blunders of our Governments, Anthony King and Ivor Crewe. Oneworld Publications, September 2013. This is a must read book for anyone interested in British public affairs, writes Prof Colin Talbot. It is seminal, not so much for the insight it offers – much of what it says has been said before – but in the […]
By Perri 6 Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
The British government recently announced that some people from outside Europe who make use of the National Health Service are to be charged for their care. But the public management challenges associated with calculating and collecting these fees are numerous, writes Professor Perri 6, who fears a repeat of the Child Support Agency fiasco. We’ve […]
By Ken Clark Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
It was recently proposed that countries with high immigration could specify the ideal mix of people and cultures allowed across their borders. It is a thesis that has, unsurprisingly, split opinion and caused much debate. But whatever one thinks of this approach, the type and volume of immigrants the UK electorate would prefer is a […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Westminster Watch, Whitehall Watch Posted:
“The last government defeat over estimates was in 1921 … nowadays any amendment would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence.” (Whener, 2010: p8). Could we see, in March 2015, the first example of a real conflict within Parliament on the Government’s Budget proposals, leading to a Washington-style impasse? There are several reasons to […]
By Robert Chote Filed Under: Westminster Watch, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Recently in Manchester three key national figures discussed how to improve the scrutiny of how British government spends its money: Margaret Hodge MP (Lab), chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Bernard Jenkin MP (Con), chair of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC); and Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The session […]
By Ruth Levitt and Bill Solesbury Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
The idea of ‘tsars’ in Whitehall is a recent name for an old practice; bringing in outside actors to advise, and sometimes to act, on a specific issue. Although not all tsars hit the headlines, Dr Ruth Levitt and Bill Solesbury argue that these appointments are a bigger phenomenon than is often supposed and incumbents […]