It's no surprise to hear debates about localism at the Liberal Democrat party conference – it’s a central tenant of their identity. One key theme this year seemed to be the crucial link between power and money.
 At a fringe discussion on planning reforms, one audience member complained of central government’s reluctance to devolve meaningful financial powers to councils, and his point was supported by Stephen Gilbert MP, who said he was hoping for “fairly radical... Read full post

What begins with mutuals could end with privatisation
It is not controversial to observe that, under this government, the UK’s public sector is in rapid retreat. The coalition’s massive reductions in departmental expenditure and civil service operating costs ensure that public spending as a proportion of GDP is set to fall for years to come. Hammering away in the media, ministers endlessly portray this as a rebalancing of the economy – repeating statistics designed to show... Read full post

We need a fall-back plan in case the cuts prompt a double-dip 
 
Reading through our Permanent Secretaries’ Round-Up, it’s striking how many express their pride in the civil service’s rapid response to the radical policies set out by the coalition. To the surprise of some new ministers, the civil service has demonstrated the strength of its commitment to serving the elected government – and in the process, won the trust of the prime minister, the deputy PM... Read full post

Secret info is best dispensed by a tap, not a tsunami
 
With intelligence information, it seems, it is flood or drought. For decades, Britain’s intelligence agencies operated so deep in the shadows that their public profile was defined largely by George Smiley and James Bond. Since 1994, they’ve crept slowly onto the public stage – in part thanks to the work of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) – and we now have a more accountable set of agencies... Read full post

From the reporters’ eyrie up in the rafters of the House of Commons, MPs’ hairstyles are more obvious than their faces. Unless the press pack are trying to identify – to name a couple at random – Michael Fabricant or William Hague, this is more handicap than advantage. But the vantage point can provide the odd interesting tidbit; and the reporters couldn’t help noticing, as Ed Miliband sat awaiting his first Prime Minister’s Questions as Labour leader, that a... Read full post

Public finances crisis may persuade HMT of the need for reform
 
Every solar system needs a fixed point to revolve around – and in the solar system of government, that immutable object is the Treasury. For centuries, HMT has laid down the spending rules and distributed the cash, defining the orbits of the spending departments. Secretaries of state may govern their own little worlds, but it’s the Treasury that determines their climates.
 
Those climates are now, of... Read full post

A report that claims to defend taxpayers cost them £650k
 
Conference season is upon us, and this year all three really matter. With the Liberal Democrats in government, Nick Clegg’s defence of the coalition was occupying the news media last Monday – until a report on public sector salaries suddenly rose up the bulletins and spread through the news websites. Launched ahead of a BBC Panorama programme on the topic, the report won lavish coverage across the... Read full post

Public spending cuts are in the news today, as the first five departments agree their resource spending ahead of next month’s spending review.Actually, perhaps that’s a little misleading. Public spending cuts – and, by implication, public service cuts – have been in the  news almost every day for weeks now, and we can expect them to remain there for years to come as cuts are speculated about, campaigned against, announced and, eventually, as their results are felt... Read full post

At the Liberal Democrat party conference yesterday,  Nick Clegg spoke about giving councils more power about how they raise and spend funds, but the party of local power does not seem convinced by the coalition’s attitude to localism.At a debate on setting the ‘yellow lines in public service cuts’, the loudest applause was for an audience member who declared communities minister Eric Pickles, self-proclaimed champion of localism, to be a ‘nutcase’. ... Read full post

Labour's redundancy plan was the best we've heard so far

Given the new government’s determination to cut spending, its radical reform agenda, and its Tory members’ traditional antipathy to the union movement, a serious clash with the civil service unions was almost inevitable. I say ‘almost’, because while job cuts and public service reforms were always going to be flashpoints, the previous government nearly pushed through a compromise on redundancy payments that... Read full post