Category: Whitehall

Zen and the Art of Cutting without Cutting

When is a cut in public spending not a cut – when you can disguise it as an “efficiency saving”.

The first big round of ‘fantasy efficiency savings’ took place before the 2005 general election when the Labour and Conservative parties competed via the Gershon and James reviews – the two aforementioned gentlemen being business-persons (in those days when business could do no wrong) who allegedly ‘reviewed’ the public sector and came up with an impressive set of ‘efficiency’ savings. Continue reading “Zen and the Art of Cutting without Cutting” →

The Green Affair and the Proper Conduct of Opposition

New readers start here: Damian Green, a Conservative opposition spokesperson on immigration had his parliamentary and other offices raided by police investigating the leaking of secret information from the Home Office. Continue reading “The Green Affair and the Proper Conduct of Opposition” →

With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King?

By STEVE LOHR New York Times
Published: April 12, 2009
Public service, government, the sciences and even teaching look to be winners, while fewer shiny, young minds are embarking on careers in finance and business consulting. READ IT

Fair Access to the Professions – Not Yet

A new study commissioned by the British government shows that far from “fair access” improving within the high-status professions, people from lower social strata our now even less likely to make it into these jobs. This is despite the massive expansion in higher educational opportunities in recent decades. Continue reading “Fair Access to the Professions – Not Yet” →

HM Treasury and “Efficiency”

To London yesterday (25 Mar 09) to brief the sub-committee of the Treasury Select Committee which is carrying out an enquiry into efficiency of HM Treasury and its departments, including the mammoth HM Revenue and Customs.

It was great session with most of the members giving up an hour of their valuable time and a creating a very lively discussion. Thanks to the sub-committee chair Michael Fallon for giving me the opportunity to do it.

The briefing session was about general issues surrounding the whole efficiency programmes of the government, rather than focussed on the Chancellor’s departments – the sub-committee will be taking formal evidence on those later.

 

Smile, We’re All Doomed – as usual. The UK Economic Pessimism Index

The most recent poll by Ipsos-MORI shows a slight narrowing of the gap between the Tories and Labour, but still gives the Tories a 10-point lead (see here).

More worrying for the Tory opposition, and a bit more pleasing for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, should be the figures on people’s attitudes to the economy. Continue reading “Smile, We’re All Doomed – as usual. The UK Economic Pessimism Index” →

The Invisible Hand’s Shadow

The shadow economy as an issue for public policy and public administration is something I have been banging on about for several years (see A False Economy, Public Finance, 2004). I recently tried to raise the issue at both the Treasury and Public Administration select committees.

So I was pleased to see a fascinating paper by Sean Mallin of the University of Notre Dame, USA, in the latest edition of ‘Real-World Economics‘. Mullin’s opening paragraph ought to tempt you to read further…. Continue reading “The Invisible Hand’s Shadow” →

Tories and Tax – Ken lets cat out of the bag?

I wrote in the previous blog (Budgeting for Hard Choices – in 2011)

“So far the Tories problem [about public finances and tax] has escaped serious media scrutiny – and maybe they will escape right up to the Election given how unpopular Labour is and the bias of our main newspapers. But come Budget 2011 the buck would have to stop. Fiscal conservatism may make a good sound bite now, but it makes for some very unpalatable policy choices down the road.”

I reckoned without the redoubtable Ken Clarke – the last Tory Chancellor and currently their Business spokesperson (or the Shadow Shadow Chancellor as some wags have dubbed him). Yesterday Clarke took the Tories new ‘fiscal conservative’ stance seriously and said they’d have to ditch the commitment to remove ‘all but millionaires’ from inheritance tax. Within hours he had been slapped down and forced to retract, but the debate about tax and the Tories is now firmly in the public domain.

see Confusion over Tories’ inheritance tax cut plan By Alex Barker, Political Correspondent, Financial Times

Budgeting for Hard Choices – in 2011

Central government current receipts in February were 9.8% lower and current spending in February was 6.5% higher than in the same month last year, the IFS reported today (19 March 2009). What a surprise.

As government income drops and spending increases all eyes will be on Chancellor Alistair Darling when he announces Budget 2009 on 22nd April. But the real Budget to watch will be in Spring 2011. Continue reading “Budgeting for Hard Choices – in 2011” →