Category: Performance

Lib Dems – a mysterious £860m saving?

The Liberal Democrats are making a great deal of how honest, detailed and clear they are being about the needs for ‘tough choices’ in public spending. And by and large they do seem to be, but there are some areas where spin seems to have gotten the better of them. Continue reading “Lib Dems – a mysterious £860m saving?” →

How Big an “Ask” Are the Tories Efficiency Plans?

Today David Cameron has been saying all day that the Tories efficiency savings amount to asking the government to save ‘£1 in every £100 that it spends’ and this is obviously ‘do-able’.

On one level this is true, but only: Continue reading “How Big an “Ask” Are the Tories Efficiency Plans?” →

What Did You Do in the Efficiency Wars, Daddy?

The Election campaign was almost completely dominated by efficiency issues yesterday, as Labour tried to dis the Tories plans to pay for not raising NIC by even more “savings”. As a result, I ended up doing radio, TV, and several newspaper interviews. So what did I say? In short, don’t believe any government or opposition when they claim they’ll make efficiency savings as a painless way of squaring a public spending circle. Continue reading “What Did You Do in the Efficiency Wars, Daddy?” →

NHS Efficiency Puzzle Solved – well, sort of

With a little help from my friends (see below) I’ve finally got a handle on how the Government manages to claim “£15-£20bn” of annual efficiency savings for the NHS by 2013-14. Unfortunately, the answer seems just daft as the Tories latest efficiency claims. Continue reading “NHS Efficiency Puzzle Solved – well, sort of” →

The Great Ignored? That’ll be The Big Deficit and The Big Market then.

The launch of the General Election campaign yesterday was most notable for what was not said, rather than what was. Continue reading “The Great Ignored? That’ll be The Big Deficit and The Big Market then.” →

NHS Efficiency Target: Confusion Reigns

Confusion reigns in government over what the efficiency targets are for the NHS.

To recap: in the Budget (para 6.14) it says that by 2013-14 the health service will be making annual efficiency savings of between £15bn and £20bn – that is roughly 15% to 20% of their entire spending.

Just before a hearing of the Treasury Select Committee on Monday (29th March) I talked to Robert Chote, head of the IFS and a fellow witness to the committee. We agreed this had to be an error and the £15-£20bn must be a cumulative figure over the next four years. Continue reading “NHS Efficiency Target: Confusion Reigns” →

Efficiency Wars

Efficiency Wars, by Colin Talbot‎

Public Finance

The first Efficiency Wars occurred in 2004, in the run-up to the last General Election the following year. Labour’s Gershon £21.5bn was pitted against the …

NHS Efficiency: official – Chancellor misled Parliament

It’s official – the Budget ‘red book’ contained a glaring error about NHS efficiency savings and thus the Chancellor (obviously inadvertently) misled Parliament.

The Budget stated:

“Budget 2010 confirms that the NHS will deliver annual efficiency savings of £15 to 20 billion by 2013-14.” (Para 6.14, page 90 – my emphasis). Continue reading “NHS Efficiency: official – Chancellor misled Parliament” →