I have complained in numerous places [*] that the most recent “efficiency movement” in government, which started with the Gershon Review in 2004, was built on faulty concepts and analysis and that reported ‘savings were often a mirage.

Dame Helen Ghosh DCB is, I’m sure, a very fine civil servant in may ways, but sensitive to others perspectives she’s clearly not. Speaking at the NAO Conference on Performance yesterday (22 Feb 2012) Dame Helen was explaining how the Home office was attempting to devolve more powers to police forces, when she came up […]

Theresa May, Home Secretary, has announced the dismantling of the UK Borders Agency just a few months before the London Olympics. This is just the latest twist in a saga that goes back years during which Ministers (and senior civil servants) have tinkered with the organization of Britain’s border controls without ever solving the underlying […]

It is nice to see that the new lot are just the same as the old lot, at least when it comes to reporting so-called “efficiency” or “waste” savings. Today Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude was telling anyone who would listen that the Government anticipates £5 billion in cash savings this year. Despite the spin, […]

Michael Ward kindly sent me this short paper about HS2 and the “policy-making” process surrounding it. Whilst I personally do not agree with his conclusions, his critique of the process is well worth reading. CT  The case for High Speed Rail: a regional, social and economic perspective

with Greece in the news again, those who haven’t already might want to read my analysis of the background to their fiscal crisis here.  

The government is very proud of its Work Programme. It is especially proud of the fact that the WPs private sector providers are only paid on the basis of individual outcomes – do the participants get a “long term” job.

With most economists now forecasting that Britain will officially re-enter recession in Q1 2012, the Chancellor will be under immense pressure by the time of the Budget on 21st March to at least be seen to be doing ‘something’ about the economy.

A new report from the National Audit Office examines the British governments attempts to reorganise “arms-length bodies” in the UK. One of the central conclusions is that the reorganisation is dragging many of the functions of these bodies back to the ‘centre’ and closer to political control – in other words a big shift from […]