Its horrific really: ive a friend who works for Dept. of Work and Pensions; they're allotted a specific amount of money for things like furniture, which is fair enough. However, if they do not spend all of the budget given to them on furniture, then the money they're allowed spent is reduced. Consequently, they very often throw out piles of nearly brand new furniture every year and just 'tip' it, so that they dont lose the budget in case they need it. Same with computers too.
Sheer madness really, and living proof that you cannot trust a bureaucrat to run anything important.
and yet the slightest whiff on an attempt to crack down on this largesse is met with squeals from the left....
It really is time we broke through the cosy consensus on public spending and exposed the shocking levels of waste and excess in the public sector.
How to do it though, without incurring the wrath of the client state?
The key for me is to link this excess in the public mind with the expenses scandal. An argument to the effect that the expenses scandal is symptomatic of a wider culture of largesse in the public sphere is the way to do it.
Unfortunately, it is an argument nobody seems prepared to make. It really is time the tories began to turn this crisis to their advantage. They have been grasping for ways to do it, so far with little success except in narrow opinion poll terms. I am on about building a base of support for their wider agenda. This crisis provides a unique opportunity do it and I fear they are in danger of missing a trick.
7 comments:
£32.3 million in 5 years on furniture?
Just, how?
You should have mentioned the amount spent on management consultants.
Its horrific really: ive a friend who works for Dept. of Work and Pensions; they're allotted a specific amount of money for things like furniture, which is fair enough. However, if they do not spend all of the budget given to them on furniture, then the money they're allowed spent is reduced. Consequently, they very often throw out piles of nearly brand new furniture every year and just 'tip' it, so that they dont lose the budget in case they need it. Same with computers too.
Sheer madness really, and living proof that you cannot trust a bureaucrat to run anything important.
and yet the slightest whiff on an attempt to crack down on this largesse is met with squeals from the left....
It really is time we broke through the cosy consensus on public spending and exposed the shocking levels of waste and excess in the public sector.
How to do it though, without incurring the wrath of the client state?
The key for me is to link this excess in the public mind with the expenses scandal. An argument to the effect that the expenses scandal is symptomatic of a wider culture of largesse in the public sphere is the way to do it.
Unfortunately, it is an argument nobody seems prepared to make. It really is time the tories began to turn this crisis to their advantage. They have been grasping for ways to do it, so far with little success except in narrow opinion poll terms. I am on about building a base of support for their wider agenda. This crisis provides a unique opportunity do it and I fear they are in danger of missing a trick.
But for that to be of use you have to out in context of the numbers they employ etc.
That printer ink scam is a killer, eh! Suckered in by cheap hardware that guzzles ink like a Hummer.
But what is it exactly you are saying?
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