It is day 101 of the new coalition government. Nick is in the house, Dave is on his holidays. The coalition has set out with strong intentions of reducing the debt and the housemates have been given silly things to do as Humphrey Lyttleton used to say. How long will it be before they repeat 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue'!
The hard facts show that, of the Department's expenditure of £314m in 2009, less than 0.3% was spent on 'extravagance' such as hospitality, hotels, and staff medical care, the latter was mischievously described as 'massages' by the Mail. The real story is that almost all the expenditure had found its way to private companies, with outsourcing, consultants, telecoms, advertising, IT software and hardware and building services mopping upwards of 95% of all chargeable expenditure. If the aim is to make savings of 25% in the spending review then the victims will include the private sector companies, even those that provide taxis and hotels. This will be a problem if these companies are seen as the salvation of the economic recovery. But this seems less important to Eric than planting the notion that the recession is the result of extravagant expenditure by the public sector. The government is creating a schism between the public and private sectors that is divisive and damaging to effective collaboration between them and the services that they jointly provide.
There have always been strong relations between the public and private sectors, it is what a mixed economy is all about. During the last government, the amount of work outsourced to the private sector increased dramatically and contributed to the increase in public expenditure. Instead of suggesting that the budget deficit is all about rampant waste in the public sector and driving a wedge between the two sectors, there should be a drive for increased productivity and cross-fertilisation of best practice. The vindictive elimination of the Audit Commission will not help. It is probably bloated, and it was used by the previous government to impose top-down solutions, but it has valuable information and experience as well as institutional memory that should be a vital part of the toolkit for making efficiencies. Mr Pickles seems unaware that bloated organisations, like people, can become slimmer and more effective with a bit of self-imposed exercise. But then he had a vendetta with the Audit Commission to pursue.
To avoid room 101 the government must stop blaming the public sector for the country's ills. The interdependence of the public and private sectors is vital, they can learn from each other both have strengths and weaknesses. The private sector is more focused on productivity gains. The public sector has an underlying strength which stems from an ethos of commitment to its citizens and locality. There should be a crossover between these mutual strengths.
The emerging worry is that there are now other ministers cantering up Downing Street with plans for health, culture, and sport that seem to have had as little forethought as Michael and Eric's wheezes. The surprising exception is Iain Duncan Smith who has acknowledged that consultation is required and that there will be upfront costs in simplifying the benefits maze. However, given his track record, he will probably get this wrong and it could be the most explosive and damaging of all policy reviews.
Michael Gove has been a clear leader so far with his proposals to halt the building of any new schools, many of which have been in the pipeline for up to five years, and to create 'free schools' in 3 months by transferring the running of schools to parents/teachers. He should know better. The pre-planning, design and selection of a provider of a new school require genuine consultation with users, staff and the wider community and represents up to 20% of the total cost of the project. The preparatory expenditure on 700 plus new schools has been lost by his decision to scrap these schools, as has as the goodwill and trust of these school communities.
And most parents have had their fill of organising their children's lives by 9:00am on Monday morning. They are not particularly keen on managing a 'free school' as well or, even worse, letting that self-opinionated mother with the 4x4 whose husband is a banker and whose child always gets the best part in the school play assume charge of the school. Despite setting short timescales so that the transfers from education authorities could take place over the summer, very few schools have completed the application. It will be another folly to eliminate the support services that education authorities provide, they are vital not only to headteachers, who should be focused on the children, but are essential to safeguard the most vulnerable children. Having said that he is probably right to reduce the cascade of national regulation and withdraw the curriculum police.
In the last week, Eric has started to compete with Michael in the search for silly and ultimately sullied government ideas. You would expect someone with a name like Eric Pickles to enjoy a pint, a pie and a game of darts; but watching him on TV makes you think it is more likely to be several pints, a shed load of pork scratchings and then an afternoon nap. He is the token northern soul amidst the Eton and Oxbridge types in the cabinet. Unlike many of them he does have real background experience, he was the leader of Bradford, as well as having a bluff Yorkshire manner beloved by the tabloids.
 |
| That's the bloody Audit Commission sorted |
First, he published all expenditure of over £500 in his Department of Communities and Local Government. There is nothing wrong with greater transparency apart from the conclusions that were inferred and encouraged by the minister. His acolytes, the Daily Mail and other papers duly obliged. Public sector workers were berated for using taxis, staying in hotels, going to racecourses and worst of all going to Blackpool. Shame on them it's our money they are wasting screamed the headlines.
The hard facts show that, of the Department's expenditure of £314m in 2009, less than 0.3% was spent on 'extravagance' such as hospitality, hotels, and staff medical care, the latter was mischievously described as 'massages' by the Mail. The real story is that almost all the expenditure had found its way to private companies, with outsourcing, consultants, telecoms, advertising, IT software and hardware and building services mopping upwards of 95% of all chargeable expenditure. If the aim is to make savings of 25% in the spending review then the victims will include the private sector companies, even those that provide taxis and hotels. This will be a problem if these companies are seen as the salvation of the economic recovery. But this seems less important to Eric than planting the notion that the recession is the result of extravagant expenditure by the public sector. The government is creating a schism between the public and private sectors that is divisive and damaging to effective collaboration between them and the services that they jointly provide.
There have always been strong relations between the public and private sectors, it is what a mixed economy is all about. During the last government, the amount of work outsourced to the private sector increased dramatically and contributed to the increase in public expenditure. Instead of suggesting that the budget deficit is all about rampant waste in the public sector and driving a wedge between the two sectors, there should be a drive for increased productivity and cross-fertilisation of best practice. The vindictive elimination of the Audit Commission will not help. It is probably bloated, and it was used by the previous government to impose top-down solutions, but it has valuable information and experience as well as institutional memory that should be a vital part of the toolkit for making efficiencies. Mr Pickles seems unaware that bloated organisations, like people, can become slimmer and more effective with a bit of self-imposed exercise. But then he had a vendetta with the Audit Commission to pursue.
To avoid room 101 the government must stop blaming the public sector for the country's ills. The interdependence of the public and private sectors is vital, they can learn from each other both have strengths and weaknesses. The private sector is more focused on productivity gains. The public sector has an underlying strength which stems from an ethos of commitment to its citizens and locality. There should be a crossover between these mutual strengths.
The emerging worry is that there are now other ministers cantering up Downing Street with plans for health, culture, and sport that seem to have had as little forethought as Michael and Eric's wheezes. The surprising exception is Iain Duncan Smith who has acknowledged that consultation is required and that there will be upfront costs in simplifying the benefits maze. However, given his track record, he will probably get this wrong and it could be the most explosive and damaging of all policy reviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment
thanks