HMRC is in trouble. Maybe the only people who are surprised are the senior management. But the fact is that HMRC and its management (in the form of the never publicity-shy Dave Hartnett, in...
Education secretary Michael Gove is absolutely right to look for new ways to ensure that academies and free schools are not ghettoised by the middle classes
The success story of the NHS often blinds us from considering whether it can continue unchanged into the future as a public service funded almost entirely from taxation
The Scottish National Party's decision to drop a proposed referendum bill allows it to suggest that only independence can block 'Conservative cuts'. It's a clever political manoeuvre
As the budget cuts kick in and the spectre of the October Spending Review looms it's difficult to see the future as anything much other than bleak, not least for community and voluntary groups....
Today's National Audit Office report on academy schools paints a positive picture of progress. But there are reasons to be less optimistic than the NAO in terms of both performance and intake
Was it only a few weeks ago that we were warned to expect a 'bonanza' for public sector outsourcing firms? Well, it certainly doesn't look that way any more
The problem with the current government's dash to slash is that it will undermine precisely those things that might enable some less statist solutions to develop
The fate of Connaught is tragic for those who will lose their jobs and for anxious service-users. But it also one of the first tangible outcomes of the forthcoming spending squeeze
So what did the Audit Commission ever do for us? Not much, judging from the chorus yelling 'good riddance' as soon as Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced the watchdog's death.
National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr is simply wrong to suggest that there is 'no evidence whatsoever’ to suggest that social housing damages the life-chances of many of those it...
There is growing speculation that the Government will scrap the Best Value Workforce Code. This places a statutory duty on local authorities to ensure that workforce issues are addressed in...
In this new world, Cabinet Committees become much more crucial than they have been for years. And the role of Lib Dem Secretaries of State on these bodies is really key.
The UK has a tax gap - a difference between the tax that should theoretically be yielded using the laws that are in place, and that which is actually collected
This week's calls from ministers to reduce unnecessary street signs, railings and advertising hoardings, the latest in a wealth of cost-saving announcements, reveal a potentially short-sighted...
Today's Institute for Fiscal Studies report showing that the austerity drive is going to hit the poor the hardest will only confirm to Gove and co the need to keep arguing that their education policy...
