Better policy making

“Taxes, like death, are unavoidable. But we can design our taxes. We are not bound to have a tax system as inefficient, complex, and unfair as our current one. To improve things, we need to see the system as a whole. We need to design the system with a clear understanding of the population...

The Budget itself is a bizarre anachronism.  A major political event, for which the TV schedules are cleared.  Special supplements in the FT.  Still shrouded in secrecy and mystique despite the fact that the Chancellor claimed in his first days that all major announcements would have been trailed in the previous autumn – and...

Because it is far from clear that Francis has come up with the right prescription to prevent as far as possible (and it will never be possible to prevent entirely) any repetition of the scandalous lack of care in Mid-Staffs. Rather the risk is that Francis will produce a whole lot more bureaucracy, an...

The Animal Health and Welfare Board for England is at the cutting edge of open policy making, bringing external input and rigour into the heart of the decision making process. I see the Board as an opportunity for industry to contribute in the policy making process at the earliest stage and bring a practical...

Making the Games tells the story of London 2012 – from the early days of the bid when London trailed behind frontrunner Paris, to the evening before the opening ceremony. The research is based on interviews with over 60 London 2012 leaders including Lord Coe, Dame Tessa Jowell, Lord Deighton and Sir John Armitt....

This week saw the coalition’s mid-year review and the release of its audit on progress. Much of the subsequent analysis has inevitably focused on what has not been achieved in the past two and a half years. But how much does delivery matter in terms of public opinion and the result of the next...

And others suffered cuts – notably swimming, which underperformed in the fantastic Aquatic centre with two bronzes and a silver; archery, volleyball and badminton which were all medal-free zones. The clear message is that sports federations who deliver results get funded – and those that don’t, get cut. The day before UK Sport’s funding...

It took the best part of a decade for the London Olympics & Paralympics to be bid for, won and ultimately delivered. It took 29 days for both events to provide a festival of sport that would swamp the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist. It took the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) a...

Since 1997, governments have asked over 250 outsiders to help them solve policy problems or act as envoys or advocates on behalf of government on a particular issue.  Solesbury and Levitt call these “tsars” and their new report shows how governments have been making it up as they go along. For Solesbury and Levitt...

The Blair government made much of its belief in evidence-based policy making. Yet as our report, Policy Making in the Real World showed, 12 years after the original Modernising Government report, both minister and civil servants recognised that learning from evaluation in particular remained a continuing area of relative weakness. Our new report, Evidence...