The IMF and the OECD have both called on countries to do more to stimulate job creation. This government is banking on private sector growth to fill the jobs gap without a backup plan.
The man from Whitehall does not know what is best. It is absurd to think that correct decisions about public services in Barnsley, Bradford, Birmingham or Bristol can be made from an office in London
Suffolk County Council plans to transform itself and the relationship with its citizens by outsourcing swathes of its services and activities. By any standards this is bold and imaginative, but will...
Place-based budgeting is the next big thing on the coalition's localisation agenda. However, only by linking local funds to the benefits that community involvement can bring will we truly...
The Chancellor's announcement today that Child Benefit will be taken away from families with a higher-rate taxpayer in them is a step in the right direction. It is an example of a fair cut
The NHS is seen as being part of the 'greater good'. This provides much needed civic glue, but has been used too often as an excuse for inertia, complacency and false attachment to the status quo
After more than five years in the making, the Equality Act came into force today. The Act will effect public bodies as employers, but it could have a greater impact when it comes to decisions on...
The government will need to do a great deal more explaining as to how a Universal Credit would work and how much different groups of recipients will get if we are to have an informed debate on its...
Payment-by-results is becoming a coalition mantra, but a fog of scepticism still lingers. Will it lead organisations to focus on the lowest hanging fruit? Could it put small charities out of business?
Suffolk County Council is aiming to outsource almost all of its services to make budget savings of 30%. But it seems that the authority may have set an overly ambitious target
Ed Miliband can turn the Labour Party into an effective opposition. To do this, he will need to repudiate the failed economic policies of the New Labour experiment
In the absence of a revaluation, council tax feels excessively complex and difficult for taxpayers to understand. In turn, it becomes harder for politicians to justify and defend
The coalition government's decision to defer a council tax revaluation comes as no surprise. Ministers will have enough on their plates over the next few years, so why shoot themselves in the foot by...
Now Ed Miliband has won the Labour leadership, he should make Ed Balls shadow chancellor. Balls has a clear view of the economy and public finances, and the credibility of expertise to back it up
It is a strange notion that just because an organisation is a quango, it is inherently worse than something run by the civil service. Yet that seems to be the rationale for Francis Maude's zealous...
Social housing providers have to take their share of the impending cuts but they will need to balance short-term savings against long-term dangers, advises Andrew Jepp
The problem with Tax Increment Financing is that the areas most in need of regeneration are those least likely to be able to produce the revenue to underpin a successful scheme
Tax Increment Financing will be vital to transforming some of our most deprived communities. There are, however, risks associated with borrowing against future growth
There is no doubt that GPs are the best people to be in charge of commissioning, so long as they work with acute trusts, councils and other primary care clinicians. The nagging doubts surface when...
If things are getting this fratricidal over what will be, after all, just a plan, imagine what it will get like when they have to start implementing it. Can the centre hold?
