In the new Euro Health Consumer Index 2009 (PDF), the UK comes a middling 14th despite having a relatively high income. All of the countries that score below us are significantly poorer. The best performing country is the Netherlands, which has become the first country to top the list for... Read more...
Cllr Gavin Webb of Stoke-on-Trent City Council was shot down in flames by his colleagues when he dared to propose that it could be a useful exercise for the TPA to go through the books (free-of-charge!) and suggest where fat might be trimmed. Undeterred by their frosty reception, he continues to... Read more...
Following the publication of the inquest verdict and the appalling details of the torment that Fiona Pilkington and her family went through without help from the Police, the Temporary Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police said he was "extremely sorry" for the abject failure of his force. And "sorry", it... Read more...
The ONS have released yet more interesting numbers today. Figures for Local Authority maintained schools, academies and City Technology Colleges (CTCs) show that the number of full-time equivalent teachers has crept up by just over 1,000 to 442,700 between January 2008 and January 2009. However, the number of teaching assistants... Read more...
Few things are as complex as the organisational structure of the Ministry of Defence. A true organogram of the department would probably need to use a fourth dimension. But a close rival in complexitiy must be the mechanisms for funding the state schools system. The Department for Children, Schools and... Read more...
The Freedom of Information Act is an incredibly useful piece of legislation. As long as questions are framed clearly and concisely, the public has the ability to obtain information that is unavailable elsewhere. In responding to a request, the public sector organisation has a duty to provide accurate information.... Read more...
What distinguishes an 'arms length' non-departmental public body - funded mostly by the taxpayer - from a Government created charity funded almost entirely by the taxpayer? There are, of course, any number of constitutional and financial differences between a public body and a charity. Only a registered charity is entitled... Read more...
A new report from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) provides evidence that many NHS Trusts are not adequately utilising expensive treatment and diagnostic equipment. With a crisis in the public finances and patients still forced to wait for important diagnostic and treatment procedures, the fact that many Trusts are under-utilising expensive... Read more...
Being Welsh, I was very interested to read Rhodri Morgan's remarks this week about public spending cuts. The first minister has said that the Assembly has been conducting an in-depth public spending review, and that any project or initiative that receives taxpayers' money will be graded on a traffic light... Read more...
We recently found the document to the right. It is a Turkish translation of their glossy "Equality News" magazine from 2003-04. The latest edition, in English, can be found here and they appear to translate it, each year, into Bengali, Chinese, French, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. Given that the document is... Read more...
We all know that our councils enjoy nothing more than using our money to polish their public image every once in a while, but this week Staffordshire County Council and Birmingham City Council have had to deal with the public backlash… No, this isn’t a doodle, this is... Read more...
On 22nd July a copy of Michael Frater’s Report – Diagnostic and stocktaking landed in my lap and was headlined in the local press on the 24th. It devastatingly revealed a long-standing whole system failure of Surrey County Council. A great deal of activity ensued on our part with myself,... Read more...
Crooks or Simple Shoppers - either way we lose Dodgy building contractors have long enjoyed a fruitful relationship with our local councils. Sometimes it's been out-and-out T Dan Smith (pic) corruption, but more generally the problem has been our old friend the Simple Shopper.Yesterday, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced the outcome... Read more...
M Mouse 101 Do taxpayers get value for money from higher education? We've blogged the concerns many times (see all posts gathered here). In summary: Taxpayers now spend £12bn pa on higher education, up around 50% in real terms since 1997; the students themselves spend a whole lot more There... Read more...
It's official: the government have firmly hopped on the anti-driver bandwagon, with more legal discrimination against motorists being proposed. This time it is slashing reclaimed costs for motorists who successfully challenge speeding and other driving penalties in court. The new proposal has sparked a Downing Street petition, which has... Read more...
Sandwell Council have been at it again, this time spending thousands on super-hero themed plays about recycling that have cost the taxpayer almost £30,000 in the past three years. Rather than leaving the teaching to teachers, the Black Country authority have employed the services of ‘Eco-girl’ and the ‘Recycling Rapping... Read more...
It seems that ministers are now reaching for the law to promote “greener” modes of transport and hassle motorists. Government advisors are suggesting changing civil law to make motorists automatically responsible for compensation and insurance to injured parties in road collisions. The radical measure is driven by the desire to... Read more...
It's going to take more than a shot of Botox It seems we're all cutters now.Even Schools Secretary Balls has flipped a back somersault since he made his unconvincing "investment" claims back in June. Back then, he told us: "I think with tough choices we can see real rises in the schools... Read more...
As the primary purpose of "How to save £50 billion" was to stimulate debate, the report has been an unqualified success. Informed and considered conversations are now going on about what works and what doesn't, what's vital and what's non-priority. The debate about Sure Start - which we proposed should be brought to... Read more...
At last! A Wolverhampton councillor sticks their neck out and speaks some common sense! But are Cllr Joan Stevenson’s wise words on the proliferation of non-jobbers within the city council just rhetoric, or will taxpayers start to see an end to the burgeoning levels of bureaucrats at the local authority?... Read more...
The latest set of employment figures are out today, and they confirm even more starkly that the public and private sectors are about as different as the two sides of C.S. Lewis's Wardrobe - except that in this case it is the real world that is trapped in the icy... Read more...
The Independent broke the story this week, and it has been followed up in most of the other nationals, that the Government is planning to roll out shooting galleries for smack addicts, where they can go and get great quality drugs to inject, under supervision and free of cost. Because a... Read more...
Robert Peston interviewed Gordon Brown for last night's News at Ten, and produced an absolute gem. As the interview wound up, Peston asked the PM Did you worry about the way in which household sector indebtedness was increasing, individuals were borrowing more and more and more? To which... Read more...
It would appear that taxpayers are footing the bill for yet more benefits for public sectors workers. This time it's free gifts, paid lunches and afternoons off work for traffic wardens who obtain the most revenue from parking penalties.The bonus system came to light after a briefing was leaked by... Read more...