"1. Local authorities should be charged with a statutory duty to facilitate local democratic engagement by: a) proactively disseminating clear and accessible information on how local governance works: what councils and councillors do; what theresponsibilities of other agencies are; how local agencies relate to one another (or not); even how... Read more...
At the Northern Crock, taxpayers remain on the hook for £25bn of loans and a further £15bn plus of guarantees for depositors (see previous blogs here, here, and here, and this Treasury statement which spells out that the guarantee applies not only to retail deposits, but unsecured wholesale deposits as... Read more...
Not the only hangover from Mr Hoon's time at MOD Last week your correspondent attended the Public Accounts Committee hearing on MOD's bungled 2003-06 sale of QinetiQ (transcript here and see previous blogs, including here). BOM readers will be familiar with the huge profits made by the purchaser- Carlyle- and... Read more...
Stoke and Staffordshire newspaper, The Sentinel, gave the West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance some great coverage on Tuesday as their own findings about Stoke-On-Trent Council spin coincided with the TPA’s council spending report. We found that Stoke has increased publicity spending by 279% over the last ten years, and The Sentinel... Read more...
When discussing the education system's poor performance it is common to focus on the costs to the economy, the children concerned and their chance of making their way in the world or even the waste of taxpayers' money thrown at an underperforming system. However, the education system's failure also wastes... Read more...
Carbon Trust meets the real world: why businesses don't implement its carbon reduction measures The National Audit Office recently reported on the Carbon Trust (here), and this week the Public Accounts Committee questioned officials from the Trust and Defra. The Carbon Trust likes to describe itself as a private company,... Read more...
Southwark Council have had a nightmare couple of weeks. Last week they admitted that almost every single one of their departments had gone over budget and predicted above-inflation council tax rises for the foreseeable future. After that bad news, this week the TPA's first Council Spending Uncovered paper revealed that... Read more...
A telling fact came out in answer to a parliamentary question from John Leech MP the other day. He asked Caroline Flint, Minister for Employment, how many Job Centre Plus staff had been sacked for not turning up to work in the last year. Whilst it would have been... Read more...
Only mere days after our report highlighted massive overspend in council publicity, Coventry City Council have pledged to lower their publicity spending next year. What a breakthrough, especially on a day where Hammersmith and Fulham council announce yet another council tax cut! It shows how our activism, combined with... Read more...
The Times reports that the government is to overhaul the primary school curriculum after progress in English, Maths and Science stalled. Earlier this week the PISA reported that we are falling down international rankings and poor performance is starting to show up even in the Government's own tests; debased by... Read more...
Congratulations to Hammersmith and Fulham Council, who have announced today that they are delivering another 3% cut in council tax. Across the country, council tax has doubled in the last ten years and yet councils claim they still don't have enough money. Taxes, they claim, must be raised further.... Read more...
WMTPA friends at the West Midlands NO! campaign have been active in their protest against the ‘City Region’ plans by beating the authorities to the punch and registering the proposed name of the ‘Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country City Region’ themselves. Read more...
The Birmingham Post reports today that Solihull Council are planning to review some controversial parking restrictions just two weeks after they were introduced. Local residents living in an area that becomes clogged with cars parked by shoppers patronising the nearby town centre had called for a straightforward parking permit... Read more...
In the news today there are two more stories of dismal public sector failure. Despite countless billions in extra spending within both the education system and the health service we are slipping down the international rankings for educational attainment and primary healthcare service standards are declining. The Telegraph's leader captures... Read more...
Launching a new report into childrens' educational attainment yesterday, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría emphasized the importance of education for the development of people and society: "Effective and innovative education policies open enormous opportunities for individuals....In the highly competitive globalised economy of today, quality education is one of the most valuable... Read more...
The GLA is the epitome of what we’ve always predicted regional government would become. It’s growing, taking more of your money in taxes and constantly creating more pitiful excuses for its own existence. So we’re not surprised that one of the jobs to come out of the GLA is our... Read more...
The replacement for the Nimrod spy plane, the Nimrod MRA4, was ordered in 1996. Since then we have had five defence secretaries. Michael Portillo, Des Browne, John Reid, Geoff Hoon and George Robertson. They've been in post for less than three years each. During that time the project to replace... Read more...
Results not quite as promised in the original plans The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has just produced its latest batch of results. They show the UK crashing down the international rankings of educational attainment (see rankings here). Once again, it seems, the government has done the eezy... Read more...
Does anyone really believe this stuff? So the ex-head of HMRC who resigned just a fortnight ago over the data discs disaster, is still in Whitehall, working now at the Cabinet Office. And Paul Gray is still on his £200k pa salary.Even better, he's now leading a project on "developing... Read more...
Mark Wallace, TaxPayers' Alliance Campaign Director, gives a brief introduction to the new report: Read more...
NEW SERIES TO REVEAL HOW COUNCILS REALLY SPEND THEIR MONEY AVERAGE PUBLICITY SPENDING DOUBLED TO £1 MILLION SINCE 1997 TOTAL TOWN HALL PUBLICITY BILL £450 MILLION A YEAR With council tax bills having doubled over the last ten years, the TaxPayers' Alliance has launched a new series... Read more...
Flashy new buildings fail to improve school In the news this week:£25m Blair "super-school" heading for closure- "A pioneering £25million "super-school", opened by ex-PM Tony Blair, has been put into special measures by school inspectors. Bishops Park College, built five years ago to mop up a predicted boom in demand... Read more...
Worcestershire County Council have been criticised today for running up a bill of over £1million for “self indulgent” refurbishments to the County Halls. Councillor Wells, who has sparked the controversy is quoted in the Worcester News: "At a time when the council is making savage cuts across key... Read more...
Surrey South West TaxPayers' Alliance and Surrey Tax Action Group Organiser Peter Webb updates us on the campaign in Surrey: Pre and ongoing: Prolonged dialogue with County Council on the effectiveness of roads contracts management and work supervision.Reflecting on development of TPA branch organisation2nd November: Non-job letter on 3... Read more...