In The News
News about Policy Exchange publications, staff and policy concepts.
Recent News
Britain’s water crisis
The Guardian cites figures from Policy Exchange’s 2011 report Untapped Potentialwhich show that England and Wales are using 1.1bn-3.3bn liters of water a day more than our water bodies can deliver without being damaged.
David Cameron is on track to kill off social housing
Writing in The Guardian, housing consultant Colin Wiles attributes recent government decisions on housing and planning to reports written by former Head of Housing & Planning at Policy Exchange, Alex Morton.
Speaker Bercow: Corbyn will need to stick with new PMQs tone for months
The Spectator’s Isabel Hardman covers Policy Exchange’s event with John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons. The Speaker set out his thoughts on how PMQs could be improved (beyond better behaviour from MPs), including a longer session and a mix of open and substantive questions from MPs.
The leader of a Tory county council just said we should review the green belt
Jonn Elledge, editor of CityMetric, discusses the conversation around London’s green belt from a Policy Exchange panel event at the 2015 Conservative Party conference. He quotes Policy Exchange’s Head of Housing and Planning Chris Walker as saying that 10% of the green belt could accomodate 1 million extra homes.
Protect free school meals, say doctors
Jonathan Simons, Policy Exchange’s Head of Education, is quoted by BBC News arguing that pilot studies show that universal free school meals don’t have a direct impact on improving BMI or childhood obesity, and are not the best use of money in tight financial circumstances.
Jeremy Corbyn backtracks on abolishing free schools
The Telegraph cites findings from Policy Exchange’s A Rising Tidereport which show that new free schools, rather than sucking talent from and undermining nearby schools, actually help drag up results in neighbouring schools.
‘Beat Police’ answer to crime-hit poor and deprived, says think-tank report
Police Professional covers Low Crime for All, the latest report from Policy Exchange’s London-focussed Capital City Foundation unit, calling for 2,400 more police officers to be ‘visible and available’ on foot patrol throughout London.
Think tank issues association privatisation warning
Comments made by Policy Exchange’s Head of Housing & Planning Chris Walker that, should the ONS reclassify housing associations as public bodies, the government’s most obvious reaction would be to privatise them, are covered Inside Housing.
Labour wants schools to be local
Jonathan Simons, Policy Exchange’s Head of Education, is quoted by Schools Week criticising Labour proposals to impose further scrutiny from local councils on schools.
London boroughs back common standards-led data approach
Comments made by Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange’s Head of Technology Policy, at a recent workshop event are covered by Government Computing. Eddie argued that due to the isolated way in which local government IT has organically developed, councils are a long way from being able to adopt open standards and share services.
