Patrick Nolan is Chief Economist at Reform The effect of fiscal consolidation in the regions was the subject of BBC research released yesterday. This survey of 76 per cent of councils in England showed that the funding of social care is a major area where changes in spending will be felt, although there is a […]
Patrick Nolan is Chief Economist at Reform. At a time when the IMF is talking of ‘rewriting the macroeconomists’ playbook’ there is value in looking to see how different countries are redesigning their fiscal and monetary policy institutions. In the latest of its series of Reformer lunches yesterday Reform held a lunch with Anne-Marie Brook […]
Patrick Nolan, Chief Economist, Reform. Fairness is at the heart of this Parliament’s policy debate. In his speech to the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference yesterday Nick Clegg made no less than 23 references to fairness. The Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, has spoken of a “fairness divide” between “the richest at the top who have […]
Dr Patrick Nolan is the Chief Economist of Reform Long term care needs reform. The major parties all agree that the current system is outdated and unsustainable. They all recognise that an ageing population and changes in morbidity mean the cost of care will continue to rise. Yet efforts to adopt solutions are stuck in […]
Patrick Nolan, Chief Economist, Reform. The government has announced an agreement (Project Merlin) with the largest UK banks on lending, bonuses and transparency. This agreement includes bank lending of around £190 billion to businesses. Of this £76 billion will go to small firms. The performance targets used to determine the bonuses of bank chief executives […]
Patrick Nolan, Chief Economist, Reform. Earlier today the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, argued that Britain needs a better system of parental leave for families with a new child. He is right. As Reform showed in a 2009 report, Productive parents, Britain’s support for families with new children, especially maternity pay and […]
Dr Patrick Nolan is Chief Economist of Reform. Earlier this week Reform issued a new report, Productive parents, on Britain’s support for families with new children. The report concluded that these arrangements, especially maternity pay and leave, are unfair, anti-dad and bad for business. The study showed that fathers are treated as an irrelevance and […]
Dr Patrick Nolan is the Chief Economist of the independent think tank Reform. Its new research report Entitlement Reform is released today. On the Andrew Marr show on 7 October David Cameron quite rightly put welfare reform at the centre of the Government’s plans to rescue the public finances. The government spends more on welfare […]