Public–Private Partnerships and the Law

Public–Private Partnerships and the Law
Author: Yseult Marique
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2014-08-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1781004552

This timely book examines the legal regulation of Public_Private Partnerships (PPPs) and provides a systematic overview of PPPs and their functions. It covers both the contractual relationships between public and private actors and the relationships be

Education under Siege

Education under Siege
Author: Mortimore, Peter
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2013-09-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1447311345

At a time when education is considered crucial to a country’s economic success, recent UK governments have insisted their reforms are the only way to make England’s system world class. Yet pupils are tested rather than educated, teachers bullied rather than trusted and parents cast as winners or losers in a gamble for school places. Education under siege considers the English education system as it is and as it might be. In a highly accessible style, Peter Mortimore, an author with wide experience of the education sector, both in the UK and abroad, identifies the current system’s strengths and weaknesses. He concludes that England has some of the best teachers in the world but one of the most muddled systems. Challenging the government’s view that there is no alternative, he proposes radical changes to help all schools become good schools. They include a system of schools receiving a fair balance of pupils who learn easily and those who do not, ensuring a more even spread of effective teachers, as well as banning league tables, outlawing selection, opening up faith schools and integrating private schools into the state system. In the final chapter, he asks readers who share his concerns to demand that the politicians alter course. The book will appeal to parents, education students and teachers, as well as everyone interested in the future education of our children.

The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue 2011

The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue 2011
Author: Stationery Office
Publisher:
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2012-04-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780115017988

The Stationery Office annual catalogue 2011 provides a comprehensive source of bibliographic information on over 4900 Parliamentary, statutory and official publications - from the UK Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and many government departments and agencies - which were issued in 2011.

HM Treasury

HM Treasury
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2013-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780215055620

The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) provides the most complete picture available of government's total finances. This is the second WGA and the first to have comparative data from the previous year.The WGA shows that the annual deficit was £94.4 billion in 2010-11, a reduction of £68.3 billion from the £162.7 billion deficit in 2009-10. However, the 2010-11 accounts include a gain of £126 billion from an assumed reduction in the public sector pension liability as a result of the Government's decision to change the measure of inflation used to uprate payments to pensioners from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index with effect from 1 April 2011. Without this change, the deficit for 2010-11 would have been £220.4 billion.The WGA has potential to help the Treasury to manage the public finances more effectively but that it does not have a clear plan to realise that potential or improve the quality and timeliness of the WGA to improve its usefulness.More needs to be done to make the accounts easier to understand. Also information sufficient for a detailed analysis by region or by category of spend would make the WGA more useful. The 2010-11 WGA includes the Bank of England for the first time, but it still does not include all bodies owned and controlled by government, leading to an accountability gap. The Treasury could not provide a convincing explanation for the on-going exclusion of organisations such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Network Rail from the WGA which, under normal accounting rules, should be included.

Treasury minutes on the nineteenth to the twenty first and the twenty third to the twenty seventh reports from the Committee of Public Accounts session 2010-11

Treasury minutes on the nineteenth to the twenty first and the twenty third to the twenty seventh reports from the Committee of Public Accounts session 2010-11
Author: Great Britain: H.M. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2011-05-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780101806923

Dated May 2011. The reports published as HC 651 (ISBN 9780215556232); HC 688 (ISBN 9780215556363); HC 721 (ISBN 9780215556424); HC 687 (ISBN 9780215556530); HC 667 (ISBN 9780215556646); HC 668 (ISBN 9780215556745); HC 741 (ISBN 9780215556851); HC 765 (ISBN 9780215556882)

Ofcom

Ofcom
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2011-02-10
Genre: Telecommunication
ISBN: 9780215556363

The Committee looked at Ofcom's management of its resources and also the outcomes for citizens and consumers. There is scope for Ofcom to do more to tackle persistent problems such as the volume of silent calls, relatively low levels of switching between telecoms providers, and limited competition in fixed-line telephony. Ofcom has successfully reduced its cost base, despite having taken on a number of additional duties. But, because it has classified some of the benefits of the merger as efficiency savings, it is questionable whether the scale of these is as much as would have been expected, once the merger-specific savings have been taken into account. Ofcom manages its expenditure within an overall cap, which is agreed each year with the Treasury. In most organisations the intended work plan will determine the budget, but in Ofcom it is effectively the other way round. This has the potential to incentivise Ofcom to make decisions based on keeping within the cap - rather than maximising value. This means that value for money - optimising the available resources to achieve intended outcomes - is not always the primary focus. Ofcom needs to do more to demonstrate its focus on value for money and to allow the taxpayers and companies that fund its activities to assess its performance. Ofcom sets out in its annual work plan the activities it plans to undertake, but it does not specify its intended outcomes, explain how its activities will achieve those outcomes, or set out how it will measure success. This makes it impossible to assess whether Ofcom is delivering value for money.

House of Commons - Committee of Public Accounts: Civil Service Reform - HC 473

House of Commons - Committee of Public Accounts: Civil Service Reform - HC 473
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2013-09-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780215061386

The 2012 Civil Service Reform Plan (the Plan), published in June 2012, outlines plans to transform the civil service so that it is sharper and quicker, more delivery-focused, and has sufficient commercial, digital, project and change management skills. The Cabinet Office is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Plan. The Committee hope that the reforms and enhanced capabilities will help prevent the failures in project and programme delivery it has seen so often, but is concerned, however, that government has not set itself objective measures for assessing the impact of its reforms. If the public is to have confidence in the system for holding permanent secretaries accountable, the Government must be clear about the detail of what each permanent secretary is expected to achieve and how their performance will be assessed. Commercial and contracting skills in the civil service remain weak and underdeveloped, despite the many attempts to address this skills deficiency in recent years. Efforts to fill skills gaps are hindered by real or perceived barriers to recruiting people with the necessary expertise and paying them enough. The process for overseeing major projects lacks real teeth and is seemingly unable to stop ill-conceived or poorly-managed projects. Yet the Government will only be successful in cutting public spending with minimum impact on frontline services if it finds new and innovative ways to deliver its programmes. This innovation can only be implemented if the Civil Service has the necessary skills and competencies.

M25 private finance contract

M25 private finance contract
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2011-02-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215556332

In May 2009 the Highways Agency signed a 30 year private finance contract for widening two sections of the M25 motorway, including the Dartford Crossing, and maintaining the entire 125 mile length of the road, and 125 miles of connecting roads and motorways. The Committee makes eight points in conclusion of its review of the contract: they do not agree that the PFI contract represents value for money; the £80 million spent on consultants over six years for this project was excessive; the Agency lacks the capacity to assess whether its advisers are providing value for money; the Agency significantly over-estimated the market rate for operation and maintenance; the invitation to tender was too narrowly drawn as it excluded hard should running as a solution for traffic congestion; the Agency persisted with its preferred solution of widening the M25 because of the time taken to trial hard shoulder running; the Agency appeared to be committed to a single procurement route & justified a widening deal through a flawed and biased cost estimation; evidence could not be taken from the Senior Responsible Owner of the project as he had left the Agency and was employed by one of the project's major contractors and investors. Ultimately the Committee believe that the project was mishandled at a potential extra cost to the taxpayer of around £1 billion

Integration Across Government

Integration Across Government
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2013-03-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780102981346

Each of the areas in the Whole-Place Community Budgets scheme has identified potential benefits from taking a more integrated approach to frontline services, focusing on outcomes like preventing avoidable hospital admissions or reducing reoffending. Greater Manchester, which covers ten local authorities, has estimated net savings of some £270 million over five years, while in West Cheshire savings of £56 million are estimated for the same period. In general, government has only limited information for identifying opportunities for integration or making an assessment of costs and benefits, which is needed to support the case for integration. In some instances where government has identified integration opportunities, benefits have not been achieved because of implementation difficulties. While the centre of government has recognized the importance of integration, it does not have clearly defined responsibilities to support or encourage frontline integration initiatives across government. It is early days for Whole-Place Community Budgets, central government and the four local areas have worked together effectively to assess the case for local service reforms. The true scale of potential benefits will become clear only if projects are implemented and evaluated robustly. Foundations have been laid but continuing collaboration - including sharing of data - between local and central government and delivery partners is essential to maximize the potential of Whole-Place Community Budgets. Accompanying this report, the NAO has released a case study looking at the four Whole-Place Community Budget areas, finding that these areas have taken a positive first step in assessing the case for integration (HC 1040, ISBN 9780102981339)