Publications
Jul
2009
Thursday 16th July, 2009
Arrested Development: Reducing the number of young people in custody while reducing crime
By Max Chambers
Our latest report recommends that local authorities should foot the bill for youth custody places, thereby removing the existing perverse incentive in the system. At present, local authorities have a financial disincentive to keep young people out of prison. Youth custody is funded centrally, meaning that when troubled young people are imprisoned, they are taken out of local agencies’ caseloads and budgets.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Monday 13th July, 2009
Building Blocks - an investigation into Building Schools for the Future
Written by Katherine Quarmby and Anna Fazackerley
Our latest report Building Blocks critically examines the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme. The report recommends that Labour's flagship programme should be radically simplified and the quango who currently delivers this project - Partnerships for Schools should have its remit curtailed.
Its findings also show how the £55 billion BFS programme, which started to rebuild the entire secondary school estate, has failed in its mission to 'transform education'.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Thursday 9th July, 2009
The Power of Numbers - Why Europe needs to get younger
By Richard Ehrman.
The Power of Numbers looks at what population changes will mean as numbers continue to rise in the developing world, across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and how the economic, political and military balance of power across the globe will be affected. Its sobering conclusion is that Britain and Europe are about to be hit by a demographic upheaval for which they are largely unprepared.
Richard Ehrman says: "We are likely to emerge form the credit crunch only to find we are at the beginning of a long demographic crunch."
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £12.99 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Wednesday 1st July, 2009
Value in Public Services
By Rhodri Davies
This report argues that a new concept of value is needed to form the basis for reform of public services. We identify five elements of value against which services should be judged:
• User value
• Value to wider groups (such as family or friends of service users)
• Political value (support to the democratic process, e.g. through co-planning of services with users
and other stakeholders)
• Social value (creation of social cohesion or supporting of social interaction)
• Environmental value (ensuring sustainability of all service provision)
This will place a new emphasis on the role of service users and citizens in clarifying what they value in services, which will involve identifying both what they want services to achieve (the outcomes they value) and how they think those services should be delivered (the governance principles that guide them). We suggest some criteria of good governance that may be adopted to guide service delivery.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jun
2009
Friday 26th June, 2009
Reforming the UK Family Tax and Benefit System
Reforming the UK Family Tax and Benefits System reveals that the average middle-income family today pays £6,016 in tax and National Insurance contributions, but gets back £5,383 as social security and family payments. This unnecessary churning has undermined family independence and self-reliance and turned four-fifths of the nation’s families (around 5.5 million households) into welfare claimants.
Here are some of the recommendations from this report:
- Tax allowances for dependent children and for non-working spouses should be restored. This would allow working parents to keep more of what they earn, rather than going to the state for top-ups, and it would reduce wasteful churning and ‘middle class welfare’.
- Tax credits should be retained, but cut back so they are only claimed by low income working families
- The tax credits system should also be overhauled. There should be a single family tax credit, normally payable annually in arrears so as to eliminate the overpayments problem and reduce fraud.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Tuesday 23rd June, 2009
Charles Farr's response to Policy Exchange publication
Charles Farr, Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism responds to Policy Exchange's Publication "Choosing our friends wisely: Criteria for engagement with Muslim Groups", by Shiraz Maher & Martyn Frampton.
Download a PDF of Charles Farr's response.
Download a PDF of the original report.
Thursday 11th June, 2009
Public Sector Pensions - The UK's second national debt
By Neil Record and James Mackenzie Smith.
Edited by Lawrence Kay
A new report from Policy Exchange today reveals the true extent of the public sector pension debt, which until now has been kept hidden and out of official figures. The cost of these schemes is much larger even the publicly acknowledged national debt.
Taken into account with net public sector debt, this second national debt brings the total the Government owes to £1.854 trillion, or 150 per cent of GDP.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Wednesday 3rd June, 2009
Controlling public spending: the scale of the challenge
By Andrew Lilico, Neil O'Brien & Adam Atashzai.
Government spending is growing far more quickly than in other countries, and faster than in previous recessions, think tank Policy Exchange today warns. A new report finds that the surge in spending is not being driven by the recession.
At most, 6% of the increased spending is going on public works, and just over a third is due to the rising cost of social security or debt. Instead of “investment”, most of the increase is due to a decision to spend more on consumption.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
May
2009
Tuesday 26th May, 2009
Hitting the bottle
By Henry Featherstone & Carol Storey
Bank Holiday binge drinking is predicted to cost the NHS £25 million this weekend. Policy Exchange's new report, Hitting the bottle recommends a fundamental overhaul of the alcohol duty regime, to allow for prices to be raised on super-strength beer and ciders, and to promote the production and consumption of lower alcohol products.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Monday 18th May, 2009
The Case for a Basket
By Robert J. Shiller
Edited by Lawrence Kay
The report, The Case For A Basket, recommends the introduction of a new indexed unit of account that is tied to inflation as measured by a consumer price index (the existing Consumer Price Index, for example). This indexed unit, called a ‘basket’, would help people assess value, even where price levels fluctuate, enabling them to make far more rational financial calculations. Adopting this new unit of account would be essentially cost-free. It would be a way of “nudging” people to undertake more rational behaviour, without coercing them. It would make indexing much easier to use. Promoting the wider use of indexing would allow people to protect the value of long-term contracts which would otherwise be eroded by inflation.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
