Even so, February was an interesting month - the passage of the AV vote, moves to strengthen No 10 and a ‘relaunch’ of the Big Society. In government I know you often have to revisit issues time and again and the government made the right decision to abandon powers in the Public Bodies Bill. We lobbied for government to re-think the clause that put 150 public bodies, whose independence was paramount to their function, at risk from abolition or merger.
March too, has already been busy. We’ve just published our report on how to fix the flaws in government IT, ‘System Error’ and are encouraging direct feedback via Twitter and LinkedIn. We’ve also set out our views on the role of select committees in public appointments, with Treasury Select Committee chair Andrew Tyrie giving his views on the future of select committees last Monday. Sir Andrew Cahn has authored the first of our InsideOUT pamphlets, on entrepreneurialism in government.
The BBC’s Nick Robinson chaired a discussion this week with former Downing Street insiders on communications at Number 10, which may offer some pointers to Craig Oliver.
Like many, we are looking out for the government’s White Paper on public services and will be publishing our recommendations for reform and effectiveness. Meanwhile, I am off to Sheffield tomorrow continuing with my fact finding tour of cities where referenda will take place next May on creating elected mayors. Look out for my blog.
