Policy@Manchester Articles

Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues

  • All Posts
  • UK Politics
  • Energy and Environment
  • Growth and Inclusion
  • Health and Social Care
  • Urban
  • Science and Engineering
Policy@Manchester Articles: Whitehall Watch
You are here: Home / Whitehall Watch / Whitehall: What a Performance

Whitehall: What a Performance

Colin Talbot By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted: November 23, 2012

In a couple of weeks I’m attending a (private) seminar on Lessons from the History of Whitehall Performance Measurement Systems.

I have fairly well developed views of my own on this already, but I’d be very interested to get any input from colleagues, especially those with “insider knowledge” of how these things have worked and evolved.

My own work includes:

– a paper I did for the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group – Performance in Government.

– a White Paper on the need for Generally Accepted Reporting Standards for Public Performance, which you can find via this blog post

– a blog setting out how the Coalition Government, despite claiming to have ditched Labour’s “target culture”, has in fact invented one of its own: Targets? What targets? Change and Continuity in the performance regime in Whitehall (although a recent Institute for Government study suggests they are not taking their own Business Plans very seriously).

So any comments, analysis, anecdotes gratefully received: either by way of comment here, or you can email me if you want to be anonymous (colin.talbot@mbs.ac.uk).

About Colin Talbot

Colin Talbot is a Professor of Government, a former Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and the Public Administration Select Committee and has appeared as expert witness many times in Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and NI Assembly. He's also advised Governments from the USA to Japan.

Our RSS feed

Receive our latest content and timely updates by subscribing to our RSS feed.

 Subscribe in your reader

More from this author

  • The UK after the Referendum: all that is solid melts into air…..
  • SR2015: £35bn on debt interest? But what about the £375bn held by the Bank of England?
  • SR2015: Spending: Is 36% of GDP still his target?

Become a Contributor

Would you like to write for us on a public policy issue? Read our Editorial Policy and then do get in touch to discuss your idea.

Disclaimer

Articles give the views of the author, and are not necessarily those of The University of Manchester.

Policy@Manchester

Manchester Policy Articles is an initiative from Policy@Manchester. Visit our web site to find out more

Contact Us

policy@manchester.ac.uk
t: +44 (0) 161 275 3038
The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Copyright © 2023 · Policy Blog 2 on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in