This paper makes the case for bringing forward the unidentified £15bn of austerity measures that have to be made in the next parliament, and spending the extra £50bn this would save over four years to simulate the economy and cut unemployment through investing in infrastructure.
This paper proposes an entirely new policy - a National Childcare Contribution Scheme – to help parents manage the high costs of childcare over a number of years.
High-quality, affordable formal childcare is critical for children's development and parental employment, bringing significant ...
The Social Market Foundation was founded in late 1989, as state socialism collapsed in Europe. Today, a global economic crisis has brought us to another fork in the road. We face economic stagnation and a heavy burden of government debt.
In this paper, the SMF examines the viability of WP by forecasting the likely performance of the providers during the first three years, based on the actual performance achieved under the Flexible New Deal (FND), Labour's welfare to work scheme and the forerunner to WP.
Saving is difficult. It goes against the immediacy of our impulses and the messages of our culture. But what is difficult for us as individuals is a problem for us all as a society. The financial crisis showed how vulnerable we are, both as individuals and as a society, to shocks.
How does trust interact with financial services markets? What impact did the financial crisis really have on trust? And what more long-term, endemic problems in the market have driven distrust?
Public service reform has been on the agenda for years. But in the times of plenty, it has lacked the urgency or coherence that today's fiscal situation demands. This paper argues that a market-based approach to public service delivery is the basis for public service effectiveness and efficiency over the coming decade.
With the UK economy struggling to gain traction in the wake of recession, the Government needs a strategy for growth.
As the dust begins to settle on the Government’s much anticipated budget for growth, the Social Market Foundation brings you analysis and comment on some of the major announcements made by George Osborne today.
In 2010, a new generation of politicians entered the House of Commons, representing a third of all parliamentarians. The 'Class...
As the UK government contemplates root and branch reform of public sector pensions, this edited collection brings together a range of expert contributions to explore the arguments behind the debate and the options facing ministers.
Philip Collins served as director of the SMF and as speechwriter for Tony Blair. In this essay, Collins defines three pillars upon which the social market philosophy stands: markets are 'social organisms'; the 'thin line' between politics and markets makes careful regulation necessary; and market systems are more productive than planned ones.
The creative industries are a key driver of Britain's economic growth. But currently the creative workforce suffers from poor social representation. A range of experts – Alan Milburn, Sir Win Bischoff, Stephen Overell, David Johnston and Paul Collard – offer their thoughts on why social mobility is so low in the creative industries, and how policymakers and the industry can improve it. Particular focus is given to the role of unpaid internships and what policymakers should turn their focus towards in the future.
How should the shape of the state change to confront the twin challenges of economic growth and environmental sustainability? In this essay, Dieter Helm argues that a new direction is needed which owes more to the rules-based order of Hayek than the short-run demand management of Keynes.
Since the Coalition Government formed in May 2010, financing undergraduate tuition in the face of growing demand, global competition and public sector retrenchment has remained a sensitive political issue.
Raising the student fee cap to £7,000 per year would cost the government up to £1.3bn per year under current arrangements.
In The Social Market Economy Revisited, former Chairman of the SMF, Lord Skidelsky, returns to the themes of his seminal 1989 essay that marked launched the Foundation.
In the second of a series of essays to mark the 21st anniversary of the Social Market Foundation, John Kay looks back at the triumph of the market economy since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Reforming the system for funding older people's long-term care is one of the biggest public policy challenges confronting the UK.
The UK's debt crisis is mounting. With bond markets getting jittery about sovereign debt, the Coalition has one shot at cutting the unprecedented deficit. Their emergency budget and spending review must not shrink from the challenge.
The current political debate is largely centred around the balance between public spending cuts and tax rises. But the importance of economic growth in dealing with the crisis in public finances should not be forgotten. The congestion that clogs up the road network is a major impediment to economic recovery as British employees and companies labour under the huge hidden costs of a creaking transport infrastructure.
Discussion of enabling early access to pension saving has been a feature of UK pension policy debate for some years.
Crime costs the UK some £72bn each year. The failure to crack re-offending among prisoners serving short-term sentences is a key driver of these costs. Offenders with short prison terms comprise the large majority of those handed sentences each year, and more than 70% are back behind bars within two years of release.
In a difficult economic climate, there has never been a better time to explore the potential of employee volunteering schemes to furnish the UK workforce with both soft and hardskills.
Lord David Owen, one of the founders of the SDP, played a key role in the establishment of the Social Market Foundation. In this publication, Lord Owen looks at the social market today. This publication, part of the ongoing celebrations of the SMF at Twenty-One.
The Government introduced tax relief on childcare vouchers in 2005 to provide greater childcare support for parents. In recent months, the role of childcare vouchers has come under intense scrutiny, and the Government has pledged to reduce the tax relief available to higher rate taxpayers from 2011. But the debate around this issue has been characterized by a lack of evidence on who actually uses childcare vouchers.
Immigration is one of the most controversial political questions of the day. While some argue for the economic and social benefits of immigration, many people are concerned that it poses a threat to their way of life. Policy-makers need to respond to these concerns because no matter whether they are real or perceived, the unease is very real and presents a barrier to social cohesion. This reports looks at community organisations in Birmingham, London, Madrid and New York.
Arrangements for fiscal policymaking ultimately come down to a set of choices around: who should take fiscal decisions and how? Who should carry out the projections of revenue and spending on which those decisions are based?
This book brings together celebrated academics and commentators to look for answers in the work of earlier thinkers, from JS ...
Over the next decade, an unprecedented funding squeeze and demographic challenges will threaten the existing model of healthcare provision in the UK.
This report uses data from two previous recessions and the latest Ernst & Young ITEM Club economic growth forecasts to estimate what might happen to claimant count unemployment and the number of long-term unemployed in particular. SMF analysis suggests that the claimant count will peak at over 2.7 million in 2011-12, while the number of long-term unemployed people (those without work for more than one year) will rise to a peak of around 1.1 million by 2012. While in recent years long-term unemployment has been a minor part of total unemployment, this is set to change radically with important implications for how policy should respond.
The move towards greater local autonomy in the NHS offers new possibilities for services that are specifically targeted at local needs.
This report outlines a fresh approach to national unemployment insurance, in which people can insure themselves against loss of income due to unemployment.
This report uses data from two previous recessions and the latest Ernst & Young ITEM Club economic growth forecasts to estimate what might happen to claimant count unemployment and the number of long-term unemployed in particular.
eople demand more from their public services than ever before. The rising prosperity and greater social freedoms of the post-war period have led to the rise of the 'assertive citizen'.
The Social Market Foundation brought together a range of experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the new cardiovascular disease screening programme.
Public service reform has been on the agenda for years. But in the times of plenty, it has lacked the urgency or coherence that today's fiscal situation demands.
This study explores the significance of mental ill health for UK businesses and society, the benefits of remaining in employment for those with mental health conditions and the barriers to doing so. It argues that employers should be encouraged to take on responsibility for the provision of appropriate support and advocates a range of mechanisms which the government should explore to offer effective incentives.
In The New Blue, the Social Market Foundation brings together leading Conservative parliamentary candidates to address the chal...
From October 2009, various New Deal programmes, the cornerstone of the government’s active labour market policies since 1997, will be replaced by the Flexible New Deal (FND). The new programme will aim to find more effective ways to help more than 200,000 long-term unemployed people into work each year. Under FND, after 12 months of unemployment, claimants will be referred to private or third sector contractors, which will be paid by results to find them work. This new approach represents a radical shift in mainstream employment services. With up to £2 billion of contracts to be allocated over the next five years, and with the prospect of much more to come, it will be important to get the policy right. In this report, the authors examine how likely the implementation of FND will be to succeed in four key areas: cost-effective commissioning; helping all jobseekers; preventing ‘revolving door’ employment; and stimulating innovation in welfare-to-work provision. In each area, FND in practice promises not to be as effective as it could or should be. The authors argue that this is the result of a failure to design the programme in a way that aligns incentives between contractors and government. The authors describe practical approaches to resolve the tensions between procurer and contractor. In doing so, they suggest the blueprint for a 21st century a welfare-to-work programme that offers the step-change in performance that the government seeks.
At the 60th anniversary of the NHS, the SMF has brought together a range of stakeholders in the health service.
These background papers provide an extensive review of the literature on different aspects of health policy - from the implications of ageing to the reformed provider market in the NHS.
Community empowerment is a defining agenda of the Brown Government, and likely to feature heavily in the manifestos of all the three main parties at the next election. The Communities and Local Government White Paper on the same topic, which is due for launch in July 2008, is therefore eagerly anticipated, by the local government community at least. In this context, this essay discusses how, despite community empowerment being presented as a panacea for many social ills, the evidence in relation to some outcomes is relatively patchy.
This study has looked at a wide range of examples from across the international public policy spectrum to better understand the drivers behind people’s choices and behaviour, and distilled the messages into a tool for policymakers to improve the future development and design of policy solutions.
Despite the sustained success of the British labour market, workers feel increasingly insecure. This is partly due to the increased financial consequences of losing employment today.
The education of 14-19 year-olds is one of the biggest political debates of our time. The Brown government is legislating to raise the age at which young people leave compulsory education or training.
An essay by Simon Linnett, Executive Vice Chairman of Rothschild. The essay asserts that carbon trading will be one of the most effective methods to combat climate change, since it allows the private sector to play a major role.
This report provides an evidence-based analysis of the effects of choice systems in public services. It brings together the research findings from a range of international and domestic studies on the impact of choice on provider schemes and draws conclusions about their further introduction in the UK.
Ten years has passed since the publication of Osborne and Gaebler’s landmark book Reinventing Government. Thus, in 2004, the Social Market Foundation published a reflection on the ten principles for entrepreneurial government that were set out in the original.
Average house prices have doubled in the last decade. Demand for housing has outstripped supply to such an extent that housing has become a national policy priority for the Brown government, as well as a staple topic of conversation at dinner parties.
Following recent controversies over the availability of expensive drugs on the NHS, NICE's work in allocating the NHS's spending on medical treatments is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Putting patients In Control argues that it is time to end the institutional divide between health and social care that currently prevents self-direction being introduced into the NHS.
The Child Trust Fund, tax-incentivised universal children's savings accounts launched in 2002, was arguably the most innovative social policy implemented under the post-1997 Labour governments. The objectives of the Child Trust Fund range widely across savings policy, financial engagement and asset-based welfare, and are not able for seeking to change the behaviour of both children and their parents. However, the Child Trust Fund today is at a crossroads: it is not achieving its aims as well as was hoped, and it is no longer affordable in its current state.
General Health Co-operative (GHC) in Seattle has sold its last hospital. In future GHC will provide healthcare to over 600,000 people by using hospitals belonging to other organisations.
This essay argues that those who benefit from globalisation need to contribute much more positively to the life chances of those who do not.
AntiSocial Britain is critical of politicians of all parties for attempting - and failing - to appease consumerism instead of arguing for citizenship, and for accepting a range of social responsibilities which they cannot fulfil.
Disabled people represent one-fifth of the working age population, but are far more likely to be out of work and to lack skills than the population as a whole.
Demand for health services has outstripped the capacity available to meet it since the foundation of the National Health Service (NHS).
The New Demographics: Reshaping the world of work and retirement analyses a number of false assumptions which underlie our thinking about retirement and calls for a radical overhaul of employment and leadership models that will allow people to continue working past retirement age.
The Social Market and its Enemies: A new philosophy for Brown? explores the origins of the social market; how the social market view of the world has evolved since the foundation of the SMF; the enemies of the social market; and the characteristics that distinguish social marketeers.
This publication examines the next steps in modernising public sector pay. A major finding of the paper is that greater equity of service provision will rely on increased local variation in public sector pay within a national pay bargaining framework.
The Politics of Aspiration brings together valuable contributions from Jim Murphy MP, Trevor Phillips, Chair, Commission for Equality and Human Rights, Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks and several other commentators and academics o¬n the importance of aspiration as a driving force in ending poverty and increasing social mobility in the UK.
Practical learning is central to transforming the life chances of young people and adults, and to the prosperity of the nation.
The SMF held a seminar in December 2006, which brought together some of the most important minds from within the sector to discuss whether a sustainable responsible lending policy is required in response to the difficulties over personal debt.
This publication, the result of a conference convened by the Social Market Foundation in June 2006, brings together some of the most expert and considered voices in the field to explore the contentious issues around the major themes dominating the health policy debate.
Published just before the long awaited Pensions Commission report on the future of pensions, the SMF working group’s report, What if? A UK model for compulsory pensions, explores how pension compulsion might have been best implemented in order to meet the challenges facing the UK pension system. The SMF working group proposed a three-tier pension system consisting of: a citizen’s pension, providing a flat-rate, non-contributory state pension based o¬n residency; a new second tier, based on compulsory saving into a private fund to ensure comfort in retirement; and a third tier, providing a revitalised voluntary system that allows for flexibility in private savings.
Traffic congestion in the UK is damaging our productivity and quality of life. For our small and densely populated island, road building cannot provide a way out, and increases in fuel duty have proved to be politically unpopular. Road user charging is the only serious option open to tackle these problems. It provides a way of incorporating the cost of damage to the environment and the economy into the price of motoring, and restricts demand on the basis of motorists' willingness to pay.
When Labour came to power in 1997, energy was not a priority and Labour’s first two energy White Papers – Energy Sources in 1998 and Our Energy Future in 2003 – failed to provide an enduring energy policy framework.
Without effective use of information, public service delivery is slow, inefficient and expensive. Yet, until recently, improving the government's use of information had not been a priority.
This publication, the result of a conference convened by the Social Market Foundation in July 2006, brings together some of the most expert and considered voices in the field to explore the contentious issues around the major themes dominating the regional casino debate: regeneration and responsible gambling.
The third sector has a long history of providing user-focussed support and services to disadvantaged client groups and has the ability to engage with those often considered hardest to reach.
This publication explores educational reforms that aim to place greater control in the hands of parents and increase choice within the school system, arguing they risk overlooking Looked After Children, or even increasing current disadvantage.
This report calls on the government to introduce a new 'Green Buildings' property tax relief to encourage businesses to cut the carbon footprint of their properties.
The government has rightly invested a significant amount of resources into improving the early years' experiences of the most socio-economically disadvantaged children in the country.
As scientific discovery and technology, from vaccines and GM crops to the internet and mobile phones, drive forward our society...
In 2005, the Social Market Foundation, in partnership with Bright Horizons Family Solutions, hosted two seminars exploring the implications of the government's 10 Year Strategy for childcare in the UK.
This report outlines the current pattern of co-payment in the UK and debates whether there is a case for introducing or extending co-payment into new areas of public service provision.
Patients have had the right to choose a GP since 1948. Yet for most of us, this right is little more than hypothetical.
Patients have had the right to choose a GP since 1948. Yet for most of us, this right is little more than hypothetical. In this report, Professor Paul Corrigan, former Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Health, explains why our primary care sector has reached this point and what reforms the Government should implement to address the problem.
Published just before the long awaited Pensions Commission report on the future of pensions, the SMF working group’s report, What if? A UK model for compulsory pensions, explores how pension compulsion might have been best implemented in order to meet the challenges facing the UK pension system. The SMF working group proposed a three-tier pension system consisting of: a citizen’s pension, providing a flat-rate, non-contributory state pension based o¬n residency; a new second tier, based on compulsory saving into a private fund to ensure comfort in retirement; and a third tier, providing a revitalised voluntary system that allows for flexibility in private savings.
This publication presents an examination of how choice might work in secondary education. Importantly, the case it presents considers what might be achieved in terms of increased quality, but also considers what the impact might be in terms of equity.
In this publication Dr Dieter Helm argues that energy policy should adapt to reflect the new security priorities of supply and climate change.
Writing on topics as diverse as the future of the EU, welfare reform, direct democracy, and social markets, the contributors address head on the questions which will define the future direction of the Party: the appropriate role of the state; the strengths and limitations of markets; and strengthening civil society. This collection provides a unique overview of the policy issues closest to the hearts of the Conservatives who will play a central role in redefining the party in the years to come. Contributors include David Cameron MP, Rt Hon. David Davis MP, Dr Liam Fox MP, Andrew Lansley CBE MP, Rt Hon. Oliver Letwin MP, George Osborne MP, Rt Hon. John Redwood MP, Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind QC MP, and Rt Hon. David Willetts MP.
The SMF working group on pension compulsion (WGPC) did not address the question of whether compulsion is the correct answer to the problems identified by the Pensions Commission. Instead, it will worked on the basis of the following hypothetical: if the Pensions Commission decides that the third of its potential solutions, an increased level of compulsory private pensions saving, is a preferred route, how might that best be achieved? WGPC members had a range of views as to whether this is indeed a desirable option, but were committed to examining what a compulsory scheme might look like in practice, with a view to analysing its advantages and disadvantages. By setting out how further compulsion might work in the UK it hoped to contribute to the debate on whether to introduce it. This paper was intended to provide the SMF working group on pension compulsion with a starting point for discussion and a preliminary agenda for its meetings.
Evidence suggest that experiencing some form of employment or work experience is the most effective way of getting low skilled young people into permanent employment. This report analyses the effectiveness of work experience, training and employment schemes provided by the private sector for a particularly vulnerable group of low skilled youth: young offenders and young people at risk of offending. Analysis of existing schemes is combined with an examination of the barriers to greater private sector involvement. The report argues that government could do more to promote further business involvement. Changes to the benefit system and an extension of employer subsidies would lower the barriers considerably.
In 2005 an SMF Commission looked at the UK’s current system of Incapacity Benefit. It attempted to define the problems with the system and lay out points for reform. The SMF’s concern was with the failure of the current system to properly address the very diverse needs of sick and disabled people in the UK. While a proportion of the 2.7 million claimants of Incapacity Benefits are permanently unable to work, there is a significant proportion that can work and want to do so. This report argues that reform should focus on providing the right conditions for these people to re-enter employment, rather than prolonging their stay on a benefit which helps javascript:void(0)neither them nor society.
Nearly 20 per cent of traffic on UK roads during the morning rush hour is on the school run and it is increasing every year. To tackle this problem, this paper argues that we should introduce a dedicated school bus network of the type used in North America.
Despite unprecedented levels of investments, education has failed to break the link between attainment and family background.
rsquo; licences, providing commercial broadcasters with the opportunity to bid for financial support to provide specific publi...
In this volume, several junior ministers argue that reform of public services is the natural concomitant of equity and efficiency and set out the direction of future travel.
In this essay, published in January 2005, Secretary of State for Health Dr John Reid MP sets out the case for extending patient choice within the NHS.
This report is a thorough examination of the government's use of targets in four public services: education, health, housing and the criminal justice system.
Following a lecture given to the Said Business School, Oxford on 10th June 2004, Davies delivers an essay with a contribution f...
Written in the light of the fifth report of the Shipman enquiry, the essays tackle the question of whether the regulatory bodies for health care professionals have been reformed sufficiently or whether they still require a lot of change before they generate trust and confidence.
This paper examines the case for introducing certain kinds of choice into the primary care sector of the NHS.
This collection of essays brings together different perspectives on the public health debate, seeking to find the balance between state intervention and individual responsibility.
This publication reviews the arguments presented by experts during a seminar held by the SMF in October 2004 on the promotion of public choice amongst those with special needs or limited capabilities.
This paper formed part of an extensive project at the Social Market Foundation, which explored the contribution of early years to improving the life chances of disadvantaged children and their families.
The property industry is a major beneficiary of new transport infrastructure and, as such, the idea of attempting to ‘capture’ some of these raised values is an appealing one.
In this publication, all parties consider the role that government and business can play in pushing forward employee volunteering. The proposals put forward include: a less interventionist government approach, to allow the business and voluntary sectors to reach their own solutions; government investment in the support infrastructure and information provision surrounding volunteering; raising the status of volunteering through advertising, awards and certificates; and a call for greater flexibility in work to make it easier to combine paid employment with voluntary work.
This paper, presented by the SMF Health Commission, reviews the case for user charges in health care.
In this essay, published in 2004, Paul Richards observes that voter disengagement, particularly among the urban working class, is effectively bringing about the reversal of the Reform Acts.
This report outlines the findings of the Business Forum: Regulatory Best Practice Group, which canvassed views from the business community on the difficulties they face in dealing with the institutions of the government. The Group received 63 reponses from the business community with a range of suggested action points on how the institutions of government could improve their transparency and accessibility. Accountable Government lists the top 20 responses that the Group believed to be representative of the whole.
This paper addresses the challenge of constructing and justifying a core package' of NHS services that would bring significant benefits.
This report, produced by an internal SMF Commission, proposes ballots as a means of allocating places in oversubscribed schools.
This report argues that the growth of the privately rented sector over the previous fifteen years has been a major success and that success has been driven primarily by market forces.
This pamphlet is a speech delivered to the Social Market Foundation on February 3rd 2003 by Gordon Brown, in which he sets out his agenda for prosperity and social reform.
This collection of essays puts forward the arguments for and against relaxing the rules on direct to patient communication, with contributions from David Colin-Thome, Nicholas Bosanquet and Angela Coulter.
In this pamphlet, Professor Begg reviews how far the Government has come, what has really been achieved and what can be done in the future to revive our transport network.
In this report, the Health Commission reviews the main attractions of social insurance schemes, including greater consumer responsiveness, choice and transparency.
This report argues that the analysis of the role private payments could play in UK health care has often been hindered by over-simplistic ideological views.
The growth of regulation in Britain since the 1980s has been haphazard but immense, spawning a profession of its own. Criticisms about costs and excessive red tape' are familiar.
In this publication Peter Lilley argues that compulsion is the only real solution to Britain’s pension’s crisis. He addresses questions including how much should people be required to provide for their old age, what proportion of that provision should be funded by savings and how much left to the tax payers, and should people be required to work longer before drawing on their pension? He injects some much needed original thinking on these and other key issues, which makes this paper essential reading for all concerned about the future of pension provisions.
This publication explores user charges, revealing a system lacking all logic. It argues that the current cluster of systems perpetuates injustice, distorts medical priorities and hinders access to vital treatment.
In this paper, the Social Market Foundation’s first publication from 1989, Robert Sidelsky discusses the use of the phrase ‘social market economy’. It signifies a choice in favour of the market economy. The author stated that it means we turn to the market as a first resort and the government as a last resort, not the other way round.
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