Changes to the Census should not simply be about making politically attractive short-term savings. It is vital that public service planning, so often funded on the basis of population, is well served...
The Welsh government is making a sensible move in seeking powers to suspend the right to buy in areas with housing shortages. In the current fiscal climate, we might well ask why the state should...
The coalition has abolished comprehensive area assessments but not yet replaced them with anything. Assessment should now be taken away from inspectorates and Whitehall, and placed in the local...
In Eden District in Cumbria, the Big Society is not a substitute for services at risk from cuts in public expenditure. It is all about harnessing the positive will and energy of local people.
For some services in some public sector agencies, outsourcing may offer a viable and sustainable solution to reducing costs. However, this will not always be the case and outsourcing should not be...
The electorate will not forgive another decade of decline in council homes available to rent. Social housing shortages are set to get much worse unless there is a concerted effort to address the...
PF's news story provided a dismal report of the Treasury's Combined Online Information System ('Online Treasury data fail to excite', June 11-17). This initiative seems just part of the new drive to...
Alastair Hatchett's feature 'Paying the price' is an excellent account of the position the public sector finds itself in (July 2-15). The government and the Taxpayers' Alliance have very successfully...
I cannot agree with Alastair Hatchett's view that public sector pensions are not 'gold-plated'. To earn the average local authority pension of £4,000 (plus inflation), staff will have contributed...
The responses of Michael Keene and Martin Southwell to Philip Sellers' letter on the role of the finance director raise some interesting questions (June 18-24)
There are things to like in the health white paper and it’s encouraging that the coalition government is actively promoting choice and competition in the NHS. However, the wholesale transfer of...
The Treasury under the Labour government had plans to set up a permanent UK infrastructure bank. Similar proposals were in the Liberal Democrats' manifesto, so this may not be the last we hear of the...
Councils are already manning the barricades in the face of impending cuts. But we are in a phoney war and a future attack from a hostile public will test their resolve
When New Labour came to power all those years ago, it was regularly lampooned for the way it 'hit the ground reviewing'. All manner of controversial issues were kicked into the long grass via reviews...
Vince Cable's idea of a graduate tax is really a backdoor way of raising taxes further on high earners. The Liberal Democrats want a student loan that you never pay off.
Labour's leadership candidates have failed to address the central issues facing post-apocalypse Britain, and especially their own part in causing some of the problems we now face.
Reforms on GP commissioning announced by the health secretary have been tried before and were not a huge success. If they fail this time, it could be the first step towards introducing a health...
For some, the cancellation of the school buildings programme means the fragile marriage of public and private sectors is finally over. So we should tell your mother, split the CDs and go our separate...
Plans in the health white paper to transfer responsibility for commissioning from primary care trusts to GPs universally and at a rapid pace must be cause for concern. They could set the NHS back by...
Education Secretary Michael Gove's humiliating apologies last week and the tough questions he faced today over the botched Building Schools for the Future announcements should make him reconsider his...
Only 13 per cent of consultancy firms believe that government departments have improved their understanding over the past four years of the difference between management consultants/contractors and...
The announcement from Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude that civil service redundancy pay will be capped at a level lower even than the rest of the public sector, represents an attack on not just...
We still hear a good deal about John Maynard Keynes. The many experts who believe that by cutting the deficit to more-or-less zero by 2015-16 the government is risking a double-dip recession...
The Holtham Commission's report, published on Tuesday, is a fascinating document. It illustrates, vividly, an intriguing maxim of devolution in Wales (and the UK more generally): the conservatism of...
The elderly care market is going through a period of profound change, with significant reform likely under the new coalition government. As the population ages and demand for care rises, the funding...
