Gove goes forwards, while other reforms stall

The good, the bad and the ugly of the coalition’s reform agenda are all on display this morning. The good is the quickening of the pace in education. As Michael Gove tells this week’s Spectator, the 200 worst primary schools will now be taken over by new management, 88 failing secondary schools are to be converted into academies and any school where half the pupils are not reaching the basic standard of five good GCSEs including English and Maths will be earmarked for a takeover. Gove’s aim is remarkably simple: he wants good schools to take over bad ones.
 
The bad is yet another delay to the public service reform white paper, the longer things stay in the Whitehall system the less radical they become. Ending the state monopoly on the provision of public services is absolutely critical to raising standards in public services, making sure that the public gets more for less and giving purpose to the big society.