The Yorkshire Post reports today that many voluntary and community groups in the East Riding of Yorkshire will miss out on grants awarded by the council which has received applications totalling £134,445. Only £73,000 is in the pot, which the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) cabinet is unlikely to... Read more...
“Peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people." This poignant statement made by John F. Kennedy to the United Nations General Assembly is an important reminder of why if, if we want to foster peace and democracy in the... Read more...
The story of Arthur Scargill – former President of the National Union of Mineworkers – still having a union funded London flat has brought to light more revelations about the culture of union management.According to the BBC payments for the flat amounts to thousands of pounds every year. A motion... Read more...
Back in February, I campaigned for lower car parking charges in Beverley. Traders were complaining high parking charges were spoiling the cafe culture in the town, as shoppers were thinking about getting back to their cars, rather than relaxing with some coffee and cake. Thankfully, some parking charges have been... Read more...
At the end of last week, I wrote about the great news that the Treasury had released the data from the COINS database that holds a wealth of financial management data. When the information was released, it came in a format that was very difficult to open and use. Since... Read more...
This morning, we have the news that the Government are planning on cutting spending and getting the deficit down by emulating Canada's example. The Telegraph reports that: "At the height of the Canadian debt crisis in 1994, the country had a budget deficit of around 9 per cent of GDP.The... Read more...
Congratulations to Islington Council’s ruling Labour party for cancelling the Lib-Dems’ extravagant plans for demolishing the much-valued Sobell Leisure Centre (I love playing badminton there with my daughter and have celebrated many children’s birthday parties there too). Their new sports hall, which would have cost £30 million, was meant to... Read more...
An interesting report from the National Audit Office was released today about increasing rail capacity. Increasing demand for rail travel – in particular commuter rail – means that Network Rail have the task of ensuring increased capacity on overcrowded commuter trains with a shrinking budget as necessary cuts are made... Read more...
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA) conference at the Victory Services Club in London – a great opportunity to speak about the TPA and to learn more about the work of the Association. It’s very heartening to address a... Read more...
Humanitarian relief gets the aid headlines, but Haiti only cost HMG £20m - the rest came from private donations In this New Age of Austerity it has always been baffling why our £7.3bn pa overseas aid budget should be ringfenced and protected from cuts. Yes, of course, we all understand the Nasty Party's political desire... Read more...
Spending transparency has been a long standing objective for our campaign. "Publish full data on spending" was one of the policies for the first three months of a new government in the TPA manifesto. As we said in that document: "Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is... Read more...
Slashing councillors’ allowances was the proud election campaign promise of Islington’s Labour Party, but it hasn’t taken long for them to backslide on this. Just weeks after declaring that they would slash their salaries by 16 per cent, Catherine West, leader of Islington Council since May, has cautiously announced that... Read more...
A quick factoid for you: If I was to stand up and talk about each Quango for just one minute, I would sit down after a marathon speech of 19 hours and 8 minutes. With over a thousand Quangos in the UK, I’m sure you’ll forgive me for not remembering... Read more...
A lot of public money has been spent installing CCTV cameras to make us safer, but how many of them actually work? I was shocked to read in the Islington Tribune that a crime lead could not be followed up because of the ‘poor image quality’ of CCTV footage at... Read more...
At the TPA we often come across council schemes and initiatives that lead us to question the judgement of the staff and elected members involved, and then there are days like today when we come across a council project so truly crackpot that we’re left wondering whether those involved have... Read more...
On Friday David Cameron gave his first major speech on the economy as PM. It contained much that was good: cut the deficit, cut red tape, stabilise the banking system, improve our schools, reform welfare to make work pay, fight protectionism. He gets a big tick for all of that.But his... Read more...
MPs have had their holidays cut. It means this year they will no longer get a lengthy three month recess, but they’ll still get a whopping 38 days off over the summer. Easter, Half Term, Whitsun and Christmas breaks have yet to be confirmed for 2011, but last year they... Read more...
In the coalition government's Programme for Government document, we saw that councils will have to publish spending above £500. As big believers in public spending transparency we naturally welcomed this. It's something that can be done easily and helps local taxpayers understand how their council operates and what they spend... Read more...
All figures correct at 9th March 2010 1. GDP at basic prices (GDP minus indirect taxes) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/oie1109.pdf 2. Hours of work http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/Social-Trends40/ST40_Ch04.pdf 3. Median earnings (for 2008-09, so they have been uprated by 2 percent) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15313 4. Tax status http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm 5. Employee national insurance rates http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/nic.htm6. Spending on VAT http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/Taxes-Benefits-2007-2008/Taxes_benefits_0708.pdf... Read more...
A dire fiscal inheritance The OECD has just published its latest six-monthly World Economic Outlook. And you know what? It's not all bad news. They say that world growth is picking up faster than they expected last time, and it's been driven by China and the other emerging economies, rather than... Read more...
Many thanks to those of you who sent over your own nominations for this week’s non-job. It’s clear that many of you have been keeping an eye on the jobs sections of your local papers for the sort of ridiculous vacancies we expose each Wednesday. Though the Guardian website has... Read more...
Yesterday the Queen outlined the new government’s plans and top of the list was tackling the soaring deficit and restoring economic growth. Cuts to deal with the deficit are absolutely essential, although not everyone agrees. The Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) posted on their website that the planned £6.2... Read more...
After widespread criticism in 2008 the Birmingham Climate Change festival kept a low profile in 2009, but this year it’s back complete with “solar powered green circs”, “green workshops” and a “solar powered stage with music” and though it’s been cropped from 9 days to a weekend its already clear... Read more...
Good to see that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have realised that they've been overpaying their Chief Executive. The newly advertised role will see the head of the quango pick up £120,000 a year, as opposed to the salary of £185,000 Nicola Brewer received for the role. Still... Read more...