Publications
Aug
2010
Tuesday 31st August, 2010
Making Housing Affordable: A new vision for housing policy
By Alex Morton
Edited by Natalie Evans
Making Housing Affordable calls for a radical overhaul of housing policy, saving taxpayers around £20 billion a year. It calls for a big increase in the number of new homes being built for sale or rent in areas of high demand, with social housing tenants given new ways to get onto the first rung of the housing ladder.
The key policy goal is that by 2030, the Government should aim that all working households be able to afford to buy a decent home - giving all the security and other advantages of owner-occupation and a stake in their communities.
Press coverage • Guardian • Independent • Daily Mail • The Sun • Evening Standard • BBC News • Press Association • Local Government Chronicle • Regeneration & Renewal • Inside Housing • Inside Housing II • Iain Dale's Diary • Conservative Home • epolitix • egovmonitor • publicservice.co.uk • publicfinance.co.uk • thisismoney.co.uk • whathouse.co.uk • homemove.co.uk • Crewe Chronicle • Hampshire Chronicle
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Saturday 21st August, 2010
Five politically relevant things about where we are on the economy
Chief Economist Andrew Lilico has predicted that a double-dip recession in the UK would be followed by a big boom, which in turn would send inflation as high as 10% with interest rates needing to be raised significantly in order to prevent runaway inflation.
Press coverage • BBC Radio Five • BBC News • Telegraph • Express • Mail • Mail II • City A.M. • Spectator • New Statesman • Bloomberg Businessweek • Birmingham Post • mortagestrategy.co.uk • financialadvice.co.uk
Tuesday 17th August, 2010
Green Bills: An analysis of the projected levy in energy bills
Green Bills reveals how the total levy in energy – effectively tax to pay for climate and renewable energy policies – is set to soar by 2020. Figures reveal that by 2020, the cost of policies like the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs – which pay householders to produce power uneconomically through technologies like solar – will hit over £16 billion a year.
That is a tripling in less than a decade, and equivalent to 4p on the current basic rate of income tax, or 2 per cent of total forecast tax revenues in 2020.
Press Coverage • Telegraph • Mail • Conservative Home • Utility Week
Jul
2010
Friday 30th July, 2010
Teacher Expertise for Special Educational Needs
Special schools are suffering from a desperate shortage of teachers trained to deal with pupils with special needs. A Policy Exchange survey revealed that just 5 per cent of special schools found it easy to recruit teachers with the right training.
The research note recommends that all teachers should receive at least some SEN training as part of their initial training and that teachers in specialist roles should have or be working towards specialist qualifications specifically relevant to the needs of the children they are teaching.
Press coverage • TES • Press Association • teacher.tv
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Tuesday 27th July, 2010
Greener, Cheaper
By Robert McIlveen and Dieter Helm
Edited by Simon Less
Taking carbon out of the economy will be difficult and expensive. Public support and economic viability are going to be crucial for decades if long-term success in the battle against climate change is to be achieved – and cost-effectiveness is critical to both.
The report suggests that a carbon tax would be a more cost-effective way of ensuring that Britain goes greener more quickly and more efficiently with a simpler, better targeted policy which is credible over the long term.
Press coverage • Economist • Financial Times • Telegraph • Telegraph II • Daily Mail • Guardian blog • The World Tonight • Energy Efficiency News • You and Yours • ENDS • Inside Housing • Power-gen Worldwide • Conservative Home
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Tuesday 27th July, 2010
Careless: Funding long-term care for the elderly
By Henry Featherstone and Lilly Whitham
The Commission on the funding of care and support long-term announced by the Coalition Government should not consider paying for care solely through general taxation.
The report says that free personal care funded out of general taxation, as was introduced in Scotland in 2002, could cost the Government up to £106 billion each year – the equivalent to funding a second NHS. It recommends instead that the Commission considers three specific funding models: the King’s Fund partnership model; a social insurance model as used in Europe, and a hybrid model whereby the State guarantees some level of care, but people are required to top-up for their long term care through insurance or annuity backed products.
Press coverage • Guardian • FT Adviser • BMJ • Health Insurance • Public Service • Citywire • Ashall Glover Financial Services • Money Marketing
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Wednesday 14th July, 2010
The Devolution Distraction
By Tom Miers
Since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, Scotland’s politicians have neglected to address the deep-seated social and economic problems faced by the country.
This report calls for a new approach to politics in Scotland, based on honesty in measuring performance, radicalism in policy making and a generational truce on the constitutional issue.
Press coverage • Telegraph • Telegraph II • BBC • Newsnight Scotland • Telegraph blog • Scotsman • Scotsman II • Scotsman III • Scotsman IV • Press and Journal • Conservative Home
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Thursday 8th July, 2010
Beware False Prophets: Equality, the Good Society and The Spirit Level
By Peter Saunders
Edited by Natalie Evans
Beware False Prophets is Policy Exchange's critique of The Spirit Level, a book published last year by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, which argued that income inequality harms almost everybody in society, no matter how prosperous they are.
In Beware False Prophets Wilkinson and Pickett’s empirical claims are critically re-examined using (a) their own data on 23 countries, (b) more up-to-date statistics on a larger sample of 44 countries, and (c) data on the US states. Very few of their empirical claims survive intact.
Press coverage • Times • Guardian • Guardian blog • Telegraph blog • New Economics Foundation
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jun
2010
Friday 18th June, 2010
Controlling Public Spending: Pay, Staffing and Conditions in the Public Sector
By Ed Holmes and Andrew Lilico
People used to say that public sector workers had great pensions to make up for their low salaries. That’s now out of date, as public sector workers have much better pay, as well as better pensions and conditions. People in the public sector are better paid and have pensions worth more - while enjoying shorter hours, more time off, and earlier retirement. There is scope to make savings without being unfair.
Press coverage • Radio 5 Live • Radio 5 Live II • BBC Radio Scotland • BBC Radio Foyle • Mail • Express • Guardian • Guardian II • Guardian III • Guardian IV • Guardian V • Sun • Telegraph • Telegraph blog • Spectator • Scotsman • Sky News • Bloomberg • City A.M. • Conservative Home
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Tuesday 8th June, 2010
What do we want our MPs to be?
By Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman writes for Policy Exchange on what it is that we want from our MPs, at a time when the whole political class has rarely been held in lower esteem. He argues that MPs should be more independent and less scrutinized by officialdom than they are now.
He sets out the choice: should MPs be elected representatives, free to use their time and judgement as they see fit and not wholly dependent on the taxpayers’ money and the quango state’s approval?
Or should we continue down the road to professional politicians, answerable only to their whips, party machines and anonymous quangos, solely reliant on the taxpayer for their income and taking on mountains of inappropriate constituency case work for something to do.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
