Whitehall Watching: - reflections on innovation, inertia and ineptitude in British government (2003-2008)

The period 2003-2008 was the height of the New Labour government UK. Having been elected in 1997, New Labour had embarked on an ambitious reform program for Government and public services. The center-piece of these reforms was a new system of what has sometimes been called "performance budgeting" - a combined system of 3-year "Spending Reviews" and a set of performance targets called "Public Service Agreements". Colin Talbot analyzed these developments and other reforms in Whitehall as they happened. As a frequent expert witness and specialist adviser to Select Committees in both Houses of Parliament and an adviser to the UKs National Audit Office Talbot had a unique vantage point to view these changes. As a former practitioner himself, Talbot brought an experienced and realistically critical eye to the understanding of these developments. Frequently holding up a mirror to Government and Whitehall, he often asked "are you really doing what you say you're doing, and is it working?". In over 50 articles written for a variety of practitioner and other media outlets as these events unfolded, Talbot both chronicles and critiques the reforms. As a "first draft of history" this collection is a valuable contemporary source.