This is a brilliant piece - if only someone in no10 and the treasury would read and act on it.

Don’t forget the continuing catastrophe that is thatchers right to buy. Or are you too young!

Excited Simon?! It’s just so bizarre that successive governments just accept this. HMT and perm secs seem institutionally brainwashed into a fear of devolving and delegating more - when literally the whole of Europe manages it. And you are correct about council tax - it is nothing of the kind.

Here is part of the answer www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

Nope, and here’s why www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...

It’s good you are still in the game Paul. There are such great opportunities - we just need some bold leadership to unleash all the good people and ideas that are out there.

Not just treasury to be fair

I guess you don’t get to the top by flexing your strategic leadership muscles - unlike the many local authority Cex’s and leaders. Me and James page lamented this void in 2012.
Building on your arguments for in shaping up. Same story. Gus O’Donnell and Bob kerslake got it, but that’s it so far.

Thanks Simon - it’s just so frustrating! All the pieces to be better are waiting for some vision, courage and preparedness to push back at the treasury.

Agreed - shared services are notoriously strong on big £ business cases - whilst failing to deliver. They ignore cost of the dysfunctional (but necessary) organisational response to poor services and botched implementation. This is exposed by great research by Thomas Elston from Blavatnik School.

The clarity and transparency of the argument in this excellent blog are the antithesis of the two great lies that surround successive spending review that I explore in my recent blog.

www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...