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Change in Government: the agenda for leadership - Public Administration Committee Contents
3 The new drivers for reform
35. The new Government came into office with two main priorities: cutting the fiscal deficit and implementing its Big Society agenda (opening up public services to a wide range of providers, and devolving accountability to the lowest possible levels). These specific priorities are two new drivers for Civil Service reform, to add to the long-running concerns about the Whitehall performance we have outlined above. This amounts to a far more radical agenda for change than seen for many decades. Ian Watmore has said that to meet the demands placed on it, the Civil Service must "focus simultaneously on cutting costs as well as improving services and reforming the way things are done" adding that "it's that combination that will dictate whether the government is perceived to be successful".[58] This sets the Civil Service with a substantial challenge to reform radically and quickly.
Decentralisation and the Big Society
36. In May 2009 David Cameron promised "a redistribution of power [which] will be felt throughout our politics with people in control of the things that matter to them, ... and power redistributed from the political elite to the man and woman in the street".[59] He talked about the need to address the challenge of the "post-bureaucratic age".[60] The consequences for the provision of public services were set out by the now Minister for Government Policy, Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP, in a speech to the Institute for Government in January 2010. He argued that citizens expected to have a wide range of choices available and have those choices met, but that current service provision fails to deliver this. Mr Letwin advocated three principles: decentralisation, accountability and transparency.[61]
37. Ian Watmore described the need for a "profound change" in the Civil Service to address the Big Society and post-bureaucratic age, but we have been given little indication of the practical terms of such a change.[62] Mr Watmore indicated that officials would be required to "work with communities at a very local level in different ways".[63] Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, told us that "... a new task for the Civil Service, or maybe a renewed task—is to ensure civil society does have the tools to ask the questions that it needs to."[64] Dame Helen Ghosh, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, described the nature of the challenge as:
... both learning to let go, in terms of the levers of power, moving into those different kinds of world, and learning how to facilitate and ... helping support the capacity of local people to make decisions and form their own future.[65]
We have found little evidence of the detail of the specific changes which will be required in terms of roles, structure, accountability and training. We believe this is one reason why the Government's decentralisation and Big Society policies are perceived to be failing.
38. For the Civil Service to commission services from a far more diverse provider base will require, as Professor Flinders told us, "a quite different set of skills to those traditionally cherished within the Civil Service".[66] Julian McCrae concurred:
The set of professional skills that you might have had in the Sir Humphrey era won't be the set of skills that can run disaggregated market provision with outcome-based contracts, for example. You need to know a lot about how to write a contract if you are going to do that kind of policy, which probably puts less weight on drafting.[67]
Professor Kakabadse has identified what this new skill set or capability should be. In addition to the well established three "core" Civil Service capabilities of policy design and development, service delivery excellence and agency relationship management he identified a "fourth capability", namely stakeholder community support.[68]
39. The main change of task, which will affect many but not all departments, will be the increase in commissioning and contracting. More onerous and time-consuming, however, will be monitoring the contracting process and dealing with problems and complaints arising. It must be recognised that the Government's obligation is to the service user, not the contractor. The mechanism by which this can be achieved by the affected departments, and the implications for their resources, does not seem to have been considered but is key to both success and accountability.
40. Whitehall has traditionally performed three core roles: policy advice, the management of public services, and the supervision of public bodies. If the Civil Service is to connect with Ministers' ambitions for public service reform a fourth capability will need to be added to this trio: the ability to engage with groups from the voluntary and private sectors through the contracting and commissioning process. Every government department must focus on developing this fourth capability, and the Cabinet Office must ensure that this is embedded in the Civil Service change programme across government.
41. The 2010 Spending Review requires a 34% cut in administration budgets across the whole of Whitehall and its arms-length bodies with the aim of saving nearly £6 billion a year by 2014-15.[69] Dame Helen Ghosh explained the urgency of the funding situation, telling us that there was no question of the department not living within its means as "the money has simply disappeared from our budgets. This is not a theoretical exercise."[70]
42. Sir Suma Chakrabarti told us that the scale of spending reductions of £500 million a year from his budget meant that his department had to make more than just incremental changes.[71] Such spending reductions could therefore not be achieved without structural reform to departments, as they go far beyond what could be achieved solely through recruitment freezes and natural wastage.[72] To achieve such savings, one of our witnesses, Julian McCrae, said that this would require a reform of the Civil Service different in type and scale from those carried out previously:
I think we have something that is very different now from the historical approaches to Civil Service reform. The spending review settlement forces change upon Whitehall in a way that we haven't had before.[73]
Professor Christopher Hood agreed:
... you are looking at reductions for which the nearest parallel would be what happened after 1945 in the demobilisation years. ... the Civil Service pulled right back from being a big delivery organisation controlling timber, milk and everything like that. It pulled right back into a policy role. In that case, you did see—not all at once but over time—a shift in the role of the Civil Service. If these levels of reduction are to be achieved, it can't just be done in an incremental way.[74]
43. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March 2011 forecast that the reduction in general government employment as a consequence of the Spending Review would be around 310,000 between 2010-11 and 2014-15.[75] While the full impact on each individual department is not yet clear, all departments have introduced voluntary redundancy schemes, and some have disclosed their predicted reduction in staff numbers. For example, the Ministry of Justice estimated they would "lose around 15,000 posts".[76]
44. Recent analysis by the Institute for Government of the most recent Office for National Statistics data on Civil Service headcount shown that there has already been an "an overall headcount reduction of 4.2% in Whitehall since the spending review".[77] The main impact at this stage has been at the most senior levels: there has been a 14.5% reduction in top civil servants in Whitehall departments since the summer of 2010.[78]
45. The decrease in staff numbers will make it impossible for Departments to deliver the same functions as previously. Instead, Departments must focus on the key functions only they can provide. Dame Helen Ghosh, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, said:
We know we will have fewer staff and less financial resource at the centre, and what we need to focus on is doing the things that really make a difference.[79]
46. Beyond such statements, we have seen no clear evidence of how staffing reductions will be achieved. The NAO reports that it is not clear how these reductions will be managed and what the potential effect will be on the business of government and on public service delivery.[80]
47. We heard of the possible dangers of planning spending reductions without clear knowledge of the future role and functions of each department. Professor Kakabadse said that "the best way to damage a sophisticated structure is to have an unthinking across the board cost reduction exercise that takes out the good with the bad."[81] Similarly the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants warned Ministers to be "alert to the 'tipping point' where budget reductions go too far and adversely affect policy outcomes."[82]
48. We were also advised by Martin Stanley, former Chief Executive of the Competition Commission and Principal Private Secretary at the Department for Trade and Industry, that reductions in spending should not happen without consideration of what the role and key functions of the department should be.[83] Instead our evidence recommended that the process of change should be "a deliberate transformation with a clear vision at the end of it"[84], creating a Civil Service "fit for present and future generations."[85]
49. Voluntary redundancy programmes are being carried out in some departments without a thorough assessment of required roles and functions. We recommend that the Cabinet Office monitors individual departmental change programmes to ensure that redundancy programmes are conducted in accordance with departments' requirements to retain and develop the key skills required to maintain the core commitments and long-term performance of each department.
50. The Civil Service has prided itself on reform through gradual change, building on past initiatives and adjusting to the priorities of each new government. We recognise that this is particularly challenging at a time of both an increase in requirements and a reduction in staff. We consider that incremental improvements of this sort will not be sufficient to meet the scale of change implied by both the decentralisation agenda and the structural impact of a reduction by one-third of the administration budget of Whitehall. This will require considerable structural organisational reform of the Civil Service.
58 "Profile: Ian Watmore", Civil Service World, 27 May 2011, network.civilservicelive.com Back
59 "David Cameron: A new politics: The post-bureaucratic age", The Guardian, 25 May 2009 guardian.co.uk Back
60 Ibid. Back
61 "Oliver Letwin: Bureaucratic Public Services: Proposals for Reform", Institute for Government,11 January 2010, instituteforgvernment.org.uk Back
62 Q 155 Back
66 Ev w23 Back
67 Q 42 Back
68 Ev 69 Back
69 HM Treasury, Spending Review 2010, Cm 7942, October 2010, p. 9 Back
75 Office for Budgetary Responsibility, Economic and Fiscal Outlook, Cm 8036, 23rd March 2011 Back
76 Eleventh Report from the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 2010-12, Good Governance and Civil Service Reform: 'End of Term' report on Whitehall plans for structural reform, HC 901, p 10 Back
77 "Whitehall Monitor #7" Institute for Government , June 2011, instituteforgvernment.org.uk Back
80 NAO, The Efficiency and Reform Group's role in improving public sector value for money, HC 887 (2010-2011) ,p 11 Back
Prepared 22 September 2011


Right Brain or Left Brain or do you care?
I found this dancer somewhere. Look at her. Do you think she is going clockwise or anti-clockwise? Can you make it go either way? Can you do it at will? Or do you think the animation actually reverses (maybe even randomly with a bunch of tricky backend wizardry?) What it is supposed to mean: . . . → Read More: Right Brain or Left Brain or do you care?


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Scott Bird Heritage Photography
Documenting Australia's rich Aboriginal and European history.
Millers Point, Dawes Point, Walsh Bay & Barangaroo
Barangaroo & Millers Point
Millers Point and Barangaroo are both inner-city, harbourside suburbs of Sydney. Millers Point is by far the older of the two, founded shortly after European settlement as 'Cockle Bay Point'. Changed in the 1820s to 'Jack, the Miller's Point' (Jack Leighton operated a mill here).
Barangaroo was originally a fishing and hunting area for the Cadigal people. After settlement it became 'Darling Harbour East' (most famous for 'The Hungry Mile'), becoming the suburb of Barangaroo in 2007.
Darling Harbour, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Pyrmont Bay Ferry Wharf. As the name suggests, it's a maritime link between Darling Harbour and Pyrmont.
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Heritage Galleries
Camera Collection

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Many Times readers have taken issue with two letters in this week's Travel section, which criticized a Nov. 27 article about National Park sites that address issues of race and ethnicity in America's history.
The letters employed cultural stereotypes to suggest that the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was justified, and sought to minimize the hardships they endured.
Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Times, said the letters did not meet the newspaper's standards for "civil, fact-based discourse" and should not have been published.
"We take a dark spot in our own history, something other countries might want to cover up," she said, "and we maintain it and preserve it so that future generations can learn."
The facts surrounding the internment are well-established. In all, 120,000 Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The majority were U.S. citizens. In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, in which the U.S. government formally apologized to the internees and established a $1.25-billion trust fund to pay reparations.
"Japanese have an extremely strong attachment to family, and even more so back then. First- generation and, to a lesser extent, Japanese here would have been expected to follow the wishes of their elders in Japan."
"Virtually everyone in the U.S. was assigned jobs to help the war effort. The Japanese were assigned the job of staying out of the way and not causing complications. Millions of Americans were assigned far worse jobs."
"War is evil, but I would have much rather been interned by the U.S. in California than by the Japanese in their captured lands."
Outraged readers found the opinions offensive and insensitive.
"Framing the forced internment of Japanese Americans as their 'contribution to the war effort' is, frankly, disgusting," wrote Matthieu Boblet of Bothell, Wash. "Many lost their homes, livelihoods, ways of life and childhoods as they spent years locked away, forced to live in rickety shacks out in the desert due to knee-jerk reactionary xenophobia. Framing it as anything different is a disgrace and outright falsehood."
Framing the forced internment of Japanese Americans as their 'contribution to the war effort' is, frankly, disgusting.
Joanne Oppenheim of New York wrote: "To say the 'interned Japanese were housed, fed, protected and cared for' is an all too familiar whitewash for what really happened as immigrant and citizens were forced to leave their homes, jobs, schools and communities. Families of six were housed in horse stables that still stank of their former tenants and a few months later shipped to God-forsaken camps where families lived in single-room barracks with inadequate heat, terrible food and poor health facilities. To say that they were there to be protected and cared for is an outright lie!"
Karin Wang of Los Angeles said she was disappointed in The Times for publishing the letters. "The internment is widely acknowledged and accepted as a major civil liberties violation and resulted in no prosecutions for espionage; to print a letter saying that Japanese Americans should be grateful that the government incarcerated 120,000 of them without due process is normalizing the 'alt-right' and white supremacy."
The Times' Travel editor, Catharine Hamm, said she approved publication of the letters thinking that the writers' views, although provocative, would be balanced by subsequent letters of response.
Hamm said that, in retrospect, that was not the right decision, because the views expressed in the letters did not lend themselves to reasoned discussion.
Maharaj made the same point in discussions with staff members disturbed by the letters, and in remarks to editors during The Times' daily news meeting this morning.
"Letters in The Times are the opinions of the writers, and editors strive to include a range of voices. But the goal is to present readers with civil, intelligent, fact-based opinions that enlarge their understanding of the world," Maharaj said. "These letters did not meet that standard."
The Travel section plans to print letters of response in the Dec. 18 edition.
For staff and newsroom news, follow @LATreadersrep on Twitter.


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Bee my Future
LifeGate PlasticLess
Mobility Revolution
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In Japan there are more electric car charging points than petrol filling stations
13 may 2016 ,
by Rudi Bressa
Charge points in the country exceeded petrol stations last year. Japanese plug-in drivers are no more afflicted by range anxiety, so electric vehicles are taking off. And now Japan bets on hydrogen cars.
There are about 40,000 electric charging points today in Japan for private and public electric cars compared with 34,000 petrol filling stations. This was revealed in a recent study conducted by Nissan on last year's data.
Electric car plugged into a public charging point. The retrofit of charging points could lead to their growth © Rudi Bressa
The country set an authentic record given the recent introduction of electric car models in the market. But even more importantly, as Nissan's chief finance officer Joseph G. Peter says: "An important element of the continued market growth is the development of the charging infrastructure". It is exactly the growth of recharging infrastructure that encourages the spread of electric cars, reducing range anxiety.
This piece of news goes hand in hand with the one on heavy investments by the Japanese Government to develop the charging station network of fuel cell vehicles: 300 stations by 2030. Improved infrastructure will boost sales of So Japan has a wealth of choices on which kind of vehicles and charging infrastructure to bet on.
Translated by Francesca Clemente
Read more on these topics: Sustainability, Sustainable mobility, Cars, Electric mobility
Gaza. Students build Palestine's first solar car
The prototype was developed by two Palestinian 23-year-old students, who self-funded. The car reaches a speed of up to 30 km/h.
Energy 5 september 2016
Olli, the first 3D-printed, self-driving electric bus to hit the road in the US
Printed and assembled in a few hours, and then it's ready to carry up to 12 passengers. The first prototypes of this bus are being tested in the streets of Washington, D.C.
Architecture & Cities 7 july 2016
Lexus builds an elctric car made from laser-cut cardboard
Lexus realises a "driveable" full-scale replica of its saloon with cardboard. And it's powered by an electric engine.
Lifestyle 12 october 2015
Strade Aperte, how Milan plans to reduce cars as coronavirus restrictions are eased
Milan has announced one of Europe's most ambitious mobility schemes, known as Strade Aperte (open roads). Its goal is to reduce cars in phase 2 of the lockdown by increasing bike lanes and pedestrian areas.
Activism 4 may 2020
Formula 1 aims to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030
Formula 1, the world's most important auto racing championship, has decided to turn the page and aim for carbon neutrality with the support of its teams, drivers and the whole racing circus.
Lifestyle 6 december 2019
From "hybrid" culture to the Olympics. Toyota and LifeGate, a decade together for sustainable mobility
Toyota and LifeGate began telling the story of hybrid mobility back in 2006, now, on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, they're still treading the path of sustainable mobility. Here are the main steps of the journey.
Lifestyle 7 november 2019
The first solar cycle lane opens in Germany, to harness the power of the sun
Germany's first solar bicycle lane could be the prototype for the roads of the future. The photovoltaic tiles melt snow and ice, and are capable of absorbing noise.
With an electric car you can save up to 60%
By using an electric car a family cuts monthly fuel expenses by 60%. Here's how, and where.
Lifestyle 12 june 2015
An African student develops a solar and wind-powered car
In less than a year, Segun Oyeyiola developed a solar and wind-powered zero emissions electric car using scrap materials.
Lifestyle 29 september 2014
Many believe sustainability is becoming an urgent need, whilst others see it first and foremost as a duty. Often it is brandished as an accessory, sometimes it is used as a gateway, others still it is considered merely a credential. To us, environmental and human sustainability represent an authentic lifestyle that defines our way of being in the world; an attitude centred around conscientiousness and concrete actions. For 20 years we have operated to catalyse social change, to awaken and feed a new state of ecological awareness, to inspire and promote new business and consumption models for people as well as companies. We are the space in which education becomes determination, feeling becomes action, the goal becomes solution and result. We favour those who choose to be guided by ethical values, who respect ecosystems and all their life forms. We are on the side of those who decide to live with passion and purpose, acting to make the world a better place.


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Note how easy it is to organize your notes every day.
Condition: this item is new and sealed, but the box is somewhat mashed up.
But I'm sure all contents in the box is fine!!!!!
Please ask any questions you may have.......................Thanks for looking...........................Thank You for your business!!!!


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Fully bespoke and ready-to-wear – Roja Dove introduces the new age of bespoke perfumery….
Master Perfumer Roja Dove has further fortified his position as Creative Ambassador for the GREAT Britain Campaign by introducing the world to a new chapter of bespoke perfumery. Born out of a vexation toward the way in which some approach bespoke perfumery, Roja has been inspired to restore integrity to the art by rewriting the rules altogether.
Created for those who desire the luxury of an individual scent but haven't the luxury of time, his By Appointment perfume introduces a new direction by bringing the fragrance to the client. But just one By Appointment has been created. Awaiting its rightful owner, it is housed in the opulent surroundings of The Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie – which sits at the helm of Harrods' influential new Salon de Parfums – where it can only be experienced via private consultation. Housed in a vessel deserving of its rarity and refinement, By Appointment is custom-made to the final detail. The gold holder that encapsulates By Appointment was designed by Atelier Jean Rousseau's leading prototypist, who painstakingly perfected the gold foil technique that illuminates the ethically-sourced Louisiana alligator skin.
Bearing the Roja Parfums hallmark are the 18 carat gold-dipped plaques that adorn both the gold alligator case and the white lacquer display box that houses the bottle. Adorned by three hundred and seventeen F colour diamonds in the form of Roja's signature, these shimmering jewels total 1.42 Carats per plaque.
The cap – the masterpiece that is the crowning glory of By Appointment – is set with a further four hundred and eighty six precision-cut diamonds. Hand-set by Roja's personal jeweller at H.H. Jewellery Inc. in New York, a total of 2.38 Carats surround 14 incredible Triple A Quality hand-cut amethysts that total 60 Carats.
Though just one By Appointment exists, included in the £75,000 price tag are two replacement bottles of the 100ml parfum. As their first instalment comes to its end, the lucky client will lift a new bottle off its bed of gold and slip it into the outstanding alligator case. It is all made from the world's most valuable raw materials – some of which cost more than their weight in gold.
Meticulously created by Roja with the utmost talent and care, the scent of By Appointment is worthy of its decoration. The grandeur of its dressing is representative of the rich, soft and sensual oriental fragrance composed from some of the most costly and most scarce raw materials the natural earth has to offer.
Fragrances of the oriental accord scream to be smelt. Loud and exotic, they are the "look at me" of olfactives. What makes the oriental palate special is the resonance it has, both on the skin and on those who experience its scent. With a large, complex base, Orientals are the commander of staying power. As light citrus notes and soft floral notes evaporate from the skin in a shorter time frame, Orientals – made up of vanilla, resins and woods – resonate on the skin. With close to twice the amount of base notes than heart and top notes combined composing By Appointment, it is a fragrance worthy of its reputation.
Bespoke to the final detail, By Appointment is luxury perfume personified. Created for the most discerning client who commands the epitome of luxury, By Appointment sits in London's most desirable shopping location where it awaits its worthy owner.


On January 4th, we suddenly found ourselves in a lot of smoke. High winds were fanning a prairie fire to the west of us. It started out near the Buffalo Jump, but quickly crossed Highway 2, heading west. The worst part of it was that we couldn't really tell how close or far it was. While we are on the other side of the river from the fire, fires can easily cross the Oldman River when they are fuelled by 120km/hr winds (that exact scenario happened near Lethbridge at the end of November). At about 3pm we got a call from the MD of Willow Creek, telling us to be ready to leave our home if required. Fortunately we can easily get all 4 of our dogs and the cat in our van. We packed a few important things and waited.... (missing obedience class in the meantime). Well, we didn't exactly sit around, we wet down the west side of our house and yard, moved the barbecue propane tanks far from the house and removed some firewood that was stored under our deck.
Thankfully the fire was put out at nightfall, still quite a few km from our place and amazingly no homes were destroyed (although quite a few outbuildings and barns were). We have had an exceptionally dry, warm and windy winter so far, which creates a very high fire hazard. Hopefully we will have some snow to cut down the fire risk soon.
Glad it didn't get any closer. Very dry and warm down this way too. Seems like Ocotober came and never left. Quite a change from last winter.