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 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 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 […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has declared he’d like the Office of Budget Responsibility to assess Labour’s tax and spend policies before the next election. Robert Chote, the head of the OBR, and Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chair of the Treasury select committee, have both said they think this could be a good thing. Others […]