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Blog posted by: Imogen Farhan, 28 June 2019.

Reformer of The Week

The National Audit Office (NAO), for holding the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care to account on their record to deliver value for money in the same week.

Quotes of The Week

 “The new Prime Minister needs to seriously plan how to manage the issues that are not directly Brexit related. Many of these have an immediate impact on the user—such as school funding.” - Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee

“Social mobility, the potential for those to achieve success regardless of their background, remains worryingly low. The British education system is partly responsible for this divide, but it also has the potential to rectify it.” - Sir Peter Lampl, Founder of the Sutton Trust

Good Week For

Breaking Down Siloes

The Office of Disability Issues will be moved from the DWP to the new equalities hub in the Cabinet Office, to encourage cross-government working that will help break down barriers faced by disabled people.

Lawless Technology

A report has warned that police forces are using facial recognition systems without proper regulation or oversight, and said guidance from the National Police Chiefs Council would help.

Bad Week For

Public Safety

The NAO has highlighted that certain types of organised crime are on the rise, while the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has described detection rates for some offences as “woefully low.”

The Welfare System

A report has found the two-child limit is affecting the ability of families to cover basic living costs, in the same week that benefits overpayments and underpayments were shown to have cost DWP £4 billion last year.

Reform’s Week

A new Reformer Thoughts series was published in partnership with Liberata UK on the potential for technology to transform and modernise the courts.  

Dr Luke Heselwood, Senior Researcher at Reform, was quoted in  The Guardian, The Sun, Huffington Post, ITV and Indy 100 and spoke to BBC Three Counties about the dominance of privately-educated individuals in top professions, following a report published by The Sutton Trust.

Imogen Farhan, Researcher at Reform, spoke at the Public Sector Solutions Expo 2019 on the benefits and challenges of implementing smarter working principles across the Civil Service, based on the findings of a Reform report published last year.

Dr Joshua Pritchard, Researcher at Reform, authored an article for the Public Sector Executive on the use of social value to ensure effective public spending. He also published an  article in Public Sector Focus on the role of voice assistants for digital government services.

Aidan Shilson-Thomas, Researcher at Reform, was quoted in Public Finance following the NAO’s report on serious organised crime.