This week: the NHS elective recovery plan; predictable private school exam result gaming; and new schools research General There are, erm, some stability problems in the government at the minute — maybe you’ve heard? Expect domestic policy to take a backseat for a while (‘operation red meat’ notwithstanding) — but…

This week: the Omicron wave; geeking out over the social care impact assessment; and problems with the national tutoring programme General Watching the news, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s endless №10 parties, rising energy prices, and the return to high inflation. Which are all big issues — but it’s…

This week: pandemic preparedness; Tony Blair’s views on criminal justice; and social care shenanigans General The National Audit Office have analysed the UKs preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic, and have found quite a few weaknesses. Much of this was already well-known — but the sections on what the government had…

This week: learning loss in the four nations; the reopening debate; and the government’s “less transparent and less accountable” health reforms General The big debate remains whether the government’s decision to lift restrictions on 19th July is the right one — as well as just what restrictions should be lifted…

This week: test,-trace-and-not-isolate?; reviews of police responses to rape and domestic violence; and a new health secretary Health and care Well then. Hancock is out and Sajid Javid is the new health secretary. He’s got quite the big in-tray as I noted in a long twitter thread here. …

This week: how to use targets; the most expensive breakfast in history; and Schrodinger’s social care reform General Using targets to improve public services is, unsurprisingly, controversial. Targets can focus staff’s attention on the measurable, rather than the important. Targets can create enormous amounts of paperwork owing to the big…

This week: reflecting on Test-and-Trace; care home-hospital discharge debate; and Kevan Collins finds mainstream tsar-dom General We’ll get to the schools catch-up debate in a bit, but This Guardian article is interesting on the ‘catch-up’ pressures in other services from criminal courts, featuring lots of very human stories on top…

This week: ‘creative’ NHS accounting; the start of the new NHS bill debate in Parliament; and disputes over lost learning Health and care Let’s get stuck in quickly. The health and social care select committee have fired their opening salvo into the looming parliamentary debate about the government’s upcoming NHS…

This week: the Queen’s speech; options for tackling waiting times; and academisation General It’s the Queen’s speech today! My colleague Sarah has a great short paper out about how much progress the government has made on its 2019 manifesto tracking every. Single. Manifesto. Pledge. Well worth a read to put…