The Week, 6 September 2019

9 Sep 2019 02:31 PM

Blog posted by: Eleonora Harwich, 6 September 2019.

Reformer Of The Week

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, for acknowledging that the free market model has not lived up to its promises, leaving strong “divisions between regions” and the need to tackle this through public service reform.

Reactionary of The Week

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, for producing a rushed Spending Review without any analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility and for continuing in a cycle of short-term investments in public services.

Quote of The Week

“We want to build and invest in every region and every nation of this great United Kingdom.

From the motor highway to the information highway…

…we’ll settle for nothing less than an infrastructure revolution.”

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, in his Spending Round speech on Wednesday.

Good Week For

Further Education

The Government announced a £400 million investment in further education in 2020-21, which is welcome after years of underfunding.

Homelessness

The Government pledged a £54 million top-up in 2020-21 to help reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. While the increased funding is welcome it is important that the funding is targeted on preventative measures. 

Bad Week For

Fiscal Rules

The Government’s spending review announcements were made without any analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Social Care

The Government announced that it will only inject £1.5 billion into social when the projected funding gap in adult social care is £1.03 billion and £949 million for children social services next year.

Reform's Week

On Friday, Josh Prichard, Senior Researcher at Reform, presented the initial findings of Reform’s research in collaboration with the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University on social impact bonds at the Social Outcomes Conference. The presentation focused on data transparency in public-sector.

Also on Friday, Reform held a research roundtable in partnership with Action on Disability to discuss how employment support programmes and employment practices can be improved to help more disabled people into work.