Culture Wars: Reforming the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

This paper is part of the Adam Smith Institute’s “Reforming the Civil Service” series.

• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has oversight over dozens of agencies and public bodies, which often have overlapping remits and unclear objectives;

• Many responsibilities currently held by the DCMS would be more appropriately managed by other government departments;

  • In some cases a transfer of employees would not even be necessary; those in the departments receiving these new roles could easily assume them without extra staff;

• Several small regulatory authorities can be merged into larger regulators which already cover largely, if not exactly, the same areas;

• Many museums and libraries currently occupying a space between public and private entities should be converted into conventional charities, giving them freedom from intrusive DCMS management;

• DCMS HQ and some of its arm’s length bodies exhibit a lack of transparency and clarity about their actual day to day activities;

• Arm’s length bodies which are either public corporations (such as the BBC and Channel 4 if not privatised) or which should be independent of Government for other reasons (such as the Information Commissioner’s Office) would be more appropriately managed by Commons Select Committees;

• This paper demonstrates opportunities to reduce the DCMS headcount by up to 89%;

  • Whilst some of this reduction would take place through redundancy, a significant portion would be accomplished through redistribution to other departments.

Brits Abroad: Reforming the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

This paper is part of the Adam Smith Institute’s “Reforming the Civil Service” series.

• The size and structure of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development (FCDO) should be overhauled to better suit the reality of the UK’s position in the world;

• Despite recent structural changes, the department lacks a coherent vision, organisation, leadership or clear lines of communication across a very widespread portfolio;

• There is little transparency about how its UK-based staff are allocated to departmental priorities and a significant headcount reduction after restructuring is both achievable and desirable for efficiency and the best use of taxpayer money;

• The FCDO should consider choosing fewer, more targeted, overseas development aid recipients with a focus on the most impoverished nations who are not receiving adequate provision from elsewhere;

• Whilst some FCDO arm’s length bodies perform effectively, there is a case for slimming down, merging or no longer maintaining several of them;

• The paper also considers the Department for International Trade (DIT), which lacks clear performance metrics and suffers from an imbalance of headquarters staff in comparison to International Trade Advisers.

Count Down: Reforming the Cabinet Office

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Cabinet Office.

This paper is part of the Adam Smith Institute’s “Reforming the Civil Service” series.

• The structure and working of the Cabinet Office is complex, confused and unwieldy;

  • The Cabinet Office does not appear to know how many people it employs and it is unclear how approximately one-fifth of the workforce contribute towards its priority outcomes,

  • Large recent increases in Cabinet Office spending are unexplained.

• Several key responsibilities of the Cabinet Office are better suited to other departments—its role should be limited to managing the civil service and coordinating policy formulation and delivery;

• Many of the Cabinet Office’s departments, agencies and public bodies should be privatised, closed, integrated into the core Cabinet Office or investigated by the National Audit Office;

• Various high profile groups within the Cabinet Office should be privatised, closed or moved to different departments;

• Significant reform is vital to ensure value for money for taxpayers and efficient governance;

  • One possible outcome of these reforms would reduce the Cabinet Office headcount to 1,286, i.e. by about 90%, through redistribution, restructuring, or redundancy.

  • This could be partly accomplished through the application of a reverse ‘Parkinson’s Law’—discovering what will not be done in the event of a drastic headcount reduction (before any redundancies take place) and easing numbers up until all essential work, and only that, is covered.

Report Card: Reforming the Department for Education

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler, proposes a number of reforms to improve the efficiency and value for money of the Department for Education.

This paper is part of the Adam Smith Institute’s “Reforming the Civil Service” series.

• The Department for Education has a number of arm’s length bodies that should be dropped, delegated elsewhere or streamlined;

• Opportunities for reform include:

  • Merging the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) with Ofsted;

  • Transferring all responsibility for education and skills funding to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) whilst passing its other policy and implementation roles back to the Department for Education’s HQ;

  • Simplifying the types of revenue and capital grants to schools and education/skills providers as well as the process by which they are administered;

  • Overhauling the student loan system by allowing students to sell equity stakes in their future earnings;

  • Merging the Office for Students (OfS) into Ofsted, transferring grant-giving responsibility to the ESFA;

  • Transferring industry training boards (such as the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board and the Construction Industry Training Board) to their associated industries;

  • Turning Ofqual and Ofsted into Executive Agencies of the Department for Education;

• Taken together, these changes could drastically improve efficiency by reducing the headcount by 68% and thereby provide the taxpayer with greater value for money.

A Fare Shake: Reforming Taxis for the 21st Century

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, written by Maxwell Marlow, outlines how the UK can improve regulation of taxis and private hire vehicles.

• The Private Hire Vehicles Act (1998) and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (1976) should be overhauled to provide a clear regulatory framework for modern ride-hailing services. New legislation should be brought forward;

• Licensure for taxis, Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs), and ride-sourcing drivers should be reviewed to allow for street-hailing across platforms. A single-tier of licensing should exist to create an equal market which is truly dynamic in function;

• The Knowledge, and other topographical tests, should be removed as requirements with the advent of regularly-updated GPS and traffic-mapping systems;

• The Government should review and remove a number of surplus regulations regarding Taxi and PHV operation due to a ‘regulatory overload’ causing drivers to leave the profession, or not join in the first place;

• Licensing authorities should permit the licensing of ‘paratransit light vehicles’ for cheaper, greener, and higher capacity travel, as a supplement to bus networks;

• The Government could do more to encourage transfer to electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids by creating a subsidy fund, providing tax incentives, and travel cards for green travel by taxis and PHVs.

Shocking Statistics: Energy Security in a Net Zero World

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest discussion paper, written by Tim Ambler and Peter Edwards, outlines the challenges of ensuring energy security as the UK moves towards Net Zero carbon by 2050.

• Recent disruptions to the global energy market have sharpened focus on what steps are necessary to solidify the UK’s future energy security,

• Distribution failure could, in theory, be mitigated by an independent network linking sub-stations with generators but alternative solutions should be urgently examined,

• Net Zero by 2050 necessitates our energy supply coming almost entirely from electricity, but there is currently a lack of clarity on estimated future energy requirements and the appropriate mix of electricity sources,

• Under current plans for the share of UK electricity generated by renewables in 2050, the battery storage investment required is of questionable feasibility,

• Hydrogen is unlikely to be a main fuel for transport or domestic heating. Its higher wastefulness as a storage medium must be considered when modelling electricity requirements and their overall costs,

• Time is running out for planning appropriate investment in baseload, whether in the case of nuclear power or counter-renewables with carbon capture and storage,

• Net carbon zero may require seven times the present electricity generation,

• The Government needs to estimate with high certainty the greatest, least and most likely generational need in order to adequately plan for a secure future energy supply.

2 Million Years of Life: How Safer Smoking Alternatives can Level Up Health and Tackle the Cost of Living Crisis

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, by Mark Oates and Daniel Pryor, argues that the Government can reduce health inequality and boost incomes by accelerating the adoption of safer smoking alternatives.

• By accelerating the adoption of safer smoking alternatives among smokers, the Government can level up health and boost disposable incomes in the midst of a cost of living crisis,

• E-cigarettes and other smoking alternatives are significantly safer than cigarettes and have played a key role in accelerating the decline in the UK’s smoking rate,

• Despite their success to date, smokers’ perceptions of the relative risk of these products remain wildly inaccurate due to outdated communication rules and negative media stories,

• Awareness among smokers of other reduced-risk products, such as heated tobacco and nicotine pouches, remains at unacceptably low levels, despite their potential to cater for a large population of smokers who have tried vaping but returned to cigarettes,

• If the smoking rate in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber was reduced to London’s through smokers switching to vaping, nearly 2 million years of life would be saved,

• The average smoker in these regions could boost their annual disposable income by upwards of 10% if they switched to a safer alternative,

• There are a number of policy measure that could help achieve these objectives, such as:

  • Allowing retailers and manufacturers of reduced-risk products to state independent health claims via pre-approved statements;

  • Replacing current restrictions on advertising of low-risk products with sensible controls on content and placement;

  • Including heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ upcoming annual evidence review on safer alternatives;

  • Legalising the sale of Swedish Snus.

Pulling Out All the Stops: How the Government Can Go for Growth and Cut the Cost of Living

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, by John Macdonald, Maxwell Marlow and Charles Bromley-Davenport, proposes a number of policies designed to alleviate the UK’s cost of living crisis.

• Britain has been plunged into a cost of living crisis. Inflation, energy prices, stagnant wages and an increasingly heavy tax burden have all combined to put huge pressure on household budgets—especially those on low incomes.

• There are a number of policy measures that the Government could take in the short, medium and long-term to alleviate the worst of these pressures, including:

  • A one off payment to those hit hardest

    • The Government should consider proposals for one-off cash payments to millions of households, rather than pursue more complicated rebate methods to provide immediate relief to the cost of living crisis.

  • End the moratorium on fracking

    • Buying British businesses extra time to reach Net Zero by supplying this cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient form of energy, the Government can continue to champion domestic decarbonisation whilst permitting strong economic growth and lower inflation. 

  • Cancel the 1.25 percentage point National Insurance Contribution hike

    • Setting a precedent for increasing the tax burden while real wages remain relatively stagnant would keep British taxpayers trapped in a low wage, high tax economy. Using the NIC hike to provide some short term relief in the current, acute situation risks keeping the country vulnerable to future spikes in the cost of living, given it means less money for saving and investment for the taxpayer. Short of cancelling the hike, the Chancellor should at minimum raise the threshold for paying employee NI.

  • Eliminate fiscal drag by unfreezing tax thresholds

    • Income tax thresholds should be indexed by inflation. In the immediate term, the Government should at least unfreeze the first income tax threshold, taking those on minimum wage out of income tax entirely, to help ease the cost of living.

  • Reform student loans

    • Removing the student loan write off period of 30 years, to allow rest-of-life liability for the loan, the fiscal burden is shifted onto the very individuals who undertook and directly benefited from their education. To allow a fair-deal for the taxpayer, the loans should be RPI-adjusted. However, the additional interest rate, in place to cushion the ballooning write-off costs of the loans, should be limited to a revised, lower figure to pay down the accumulated debt.

  • Deregulate child:staff ratios to improve care and reduce cost

    • Relaxing child:staff ratios could more than halve costs, reducing the cost of living for single parent households in particular and affording them more opportunity to work.

Let Them Come: How the UK Can Help Ukrainians

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, by Ben Ramanauskas, who has worked in numerous roles including in public policy, academia, and most recently as an adviser to the UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade, argues that the UK should waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian nationals and make it easier for highly skilled Russian and Belarusians to move to the UK.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing immense suffering for the people of Ukraine. The majority of Russian and Belarusian citizens are also victims of their own governments.

• The UK Government should temporarily waive visa requirements for all Ukrainians and allow them to live, work, and study in the UK. This temporary protection should last for at least five years (more generous than the EU and current UK policies), accompanied by existing paths for asylum, longer term visas and citizenships.

• The visa system should be reformed to make it far easier for highly skilled people and their close relatives (properly vetted) from Russia and Belarus to move to the UK. A new characteristic should be added to our points-based system, granting 20 points for “Target Nation Status”. 

• A “Liberty Pass” should be created to attract the most highly skilled to the UK from countries suffering from conflict or oppressive regimes, including Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. This would both provide a fast tracked £1,875 payment for three months for those set to take advantage of the Global Talent Visa or under the Ukrainian visa waiver (who meet the same talent criteria), as well as waive visa fees.

• There is a strong moral case to be made for offering refuge to people fleeing war and persecution.

• An influx of workers, especially those who are highly skilled, will bring huge economic benefits to the UK.

• An exodus of highly skilled workers from Russia and Belarus will damage their economies and credibility, rightly punishing their leaders, helping to undermine their grip on power and reducing their capacity to develop military capabilities.

• It will be a boost to the UK’s international reputation as the country will be seen as welcoming to refugees and standing up for freedom.

Space Invaders: Property Rights on the Moon

The Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, by Rebecca Lowe, consultant and former director of the FREER think tank, argues that creating a clear system of property rights in space could turbocharge scientific discovery and give all of humanity a greater stake in space exploration.

• Sixty years since Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit our planet and John F. Kennedy spoke of the need to institute the rule of law to ‘man’s new domain’, property rights in space remain up for debate. But recent developments suggest this can’t and won’t remain a debate for long.

• The ‘national appropriation’ of space — or at least of its ‘physical domain’ — is outlawed by long-standing international treaty. Yet problems stemming from the idealism of the international approach, alongside various nations’ unilateral shifts of attitude and practice, as well as growing demands from firms and individuals to shift away from a national focus, leave this framework unfit for purpose, at least in practical terms.

• Beyond this, a clear, morally-justified, and efficient system for assigning and governing property rights in space — in land, in other resources, in the vacuum itself, and in anything else that might be found — would present vast benefits. These include not only serious financial rewards for those who would become owners under such a system, and for the other direct and indirect beneficiaries of space ownerships. They also relate to the provision of valuable incentives for the responsible stewardship of space, as well as opportunities for new scientific discovery, democratised space exploration, and much more.

• This paper primarily addresses the question of what a Lockean-type classical liberal rights-based approach to economic justice demands in terms of adjudicating problems of the individual ownership of land in space. But an implicit underlying question is what the answers to these problems offer to help us to assess the adequacy of ongoing approaches to property on Earth.

• In the final section of the paper, a framework is set out to enable individuals to attain morally-justified property rights in space, with a particular focus on plots of moon land. The general aim of this framework is to enable individual human beings to acquire and hold space land in such a way (i.e. in an exclusive and exclusionary manner, at least regarding its use) that will be to their benefit, and the general benefit of humankind, without effectively precluding other individual human beings, who hold an equal potential right to this land, from being able to do so themselves. Indeed, the system works in such a way as to increase the number of individuals who will be able to compete to actualise this equally-held potential right.