Thanks to my colleagues at our sister organisation Big Brother Watch, a very interesting response to a Freedom of Information request came to my attention this morning. The request asks how much money was obtained in fines from a camera placed on one junction (Forest Road E17 and Winsbeach E17)... Read more...
BBC West is this week hosting a televised debate on public sector cuts. They will not have to look far for some prime targets. Highest paid council Chief Executive in the South West is Kevin Laverty of Cornwall County Council who raked in £238,800 of taxpayers’ money in 2009-2010. Next... Read more...
Public sector trade unions are preparing to fight spending cuts and threatening strikes, and they are doing so with the help of taxpayers' money. The TaxPayers' Alliance have, for the first time, calculated the value of the direct grants and paid time off that unions are receiving. Click here... Read more...
Yesterday afternoon PCS announced that during the conference season they will be campaigning against government cuts. They argue that “most of the country believes that public services need investment not drastic cuts” and “Many politicians take the opposite view”. And they are hoping to dispel what they describe as myths... Read more...
The decision to ring-fence the NHS budget is not a smart one. It places increased pressure on other budgets and as the NHS receives over £100 billion a year, this pressure is both heavy and unnecessary. Spending reductions can be made without affecting the quality of healthcare - as the... Read more...
It was announced this morning that Hull City Council cabinet members are taking a 5% pay cut. There are those who will say this is gesture politics, and the net savings to taxpayers will be very small. In relation to the overall council budget, we are talking about small change,... Read more...
Last week, at my day job, I received an e-mail from Acua Limited, a company that describes itself on its website as a corporate trading subsidiary of Coventry University and purports to deliver “organisational transformation through talent development”. “We would like to arrange a suitable time to come and... Read more...
Today Eurostat released growth figures up to the second quarter of 2010. They suggest that Britain has been growing at a pretty similar pace to the eurozone (EA16). Quarterly growth rates of GDP in volume, percentage change on previous quarter, seasonally adjusted We are facing a stuttering and rather anaemic... Read more...
If you want to know who to blame for the protracted planning stages of the Building Schools for the Future project that cost taxpayers a massive £250m before any building had actually been done, it might surprise you to learn that you should – apparently – look no further than... Read more...
In the on-going gull cull controversy in Bath, the acknowledged expert on urban gulls is Peter Rock. He has been a strong supporter of the softly-softly do-very-little approach taken by Bath and North East Somerset Council, which has seen the gull population grow not diminish. A bitter blow to his... Read more...
Today a new report has been released arguing that toll roads are not the economical answer to traffic problems. However it is from an unlikely author – Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) – who back in January argued that spending on roads is a major “gamble” because the Highways Agency... Read more...
My husband is addicted to his Kindle. He loves the flexibility of reading blogs, newspapers, and books on the fly without carrying all of them in his work bag. On the other hand, I prefer the weight and feel of books and the print is easier on the eye to... Read more...
Another week, another dubious government position, and this Wednesday we’ve found another recruitment website where these things appear to be lurking – namely pubsectorjobs.net, a site that has thrown up all sorts of non-jobbery. It certainly seems to be en vogue at the moment for local councils to spend... Read more...
In many ways, all the attacks that the Government are enduring over whether their policies are ‘progressive’ or ‘regressive’ are their own fault. They endorsed the ultimately superficial analysis of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to the point of including it in the Emergency Budget report. Now they are... Read more...
This is the time of year when we learn how much councillors have been paid in allowances and expenses. It was reported in the Hull Daily Mail that a total of £1.2 million was paid to East Riding councillors for 2009/10 - an increase of £100,000 on the previous year.... Read more...
In our book How to cut public spending we recommended getting rid of Comprehensive Area Assessments. This would leave the Audit Commission to audit accounts, so we were among those surprised to hear the news that it is to be scrapped. But the move is a good one – they... Read more...
A letter arrived today from a disgruntled WMTPA supporter who was surprised to learn that £1million of taxpayers’ money was being used to ‘spruce-up’ the exteriors of private shops and houses on two streets in Burton. According to a Burton Mail article the facades of the properties will be replastered,... Read more...
The overtime gravy train for the police continues to chug along in Avon and Somerset. Last year, Avon and Somerset police went over budget by £2 million. Four of their PCs managed to earn more than their inspectors. A fully trained Police Constable is paid a starting salary of £25,317... Read more...
Research from management consultants Knox D'Arcy finds that junior staff in local government 'lose' up to 68 per cent of the day, mostly down to poor supervision by managers. This is a huge amount of time and is of course wholly unproductive. The report also said that managers can spend... Read more...
There is no lull on the non-jobs front this week, and though there’s a tangible reduction in the number of vacancies on offer, we’re still finding the sort of non-vital - and in some instances, plain barmy - roles that really need to go if government are to make savings.... Read more...
Even in this part of the world, we have heard the old saying that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time (the more cynical would add that he then goes on to steal it, though I personally – as my friends would freely acknowledge... Read more...
Today, the Telegraph reports that a number of councils havespent millions on website design. The list should come as a shock to all of us, but it comes as a real shock tothose of us in the digital and new media industry. We all know we havepitched for and worked... Read more...
There will be very few tears shed in Norfolk at the passing of the Audit Commission. In fact, as I write this I imagine that the Interflora van is parked outside Eric Pickles’ office as armfuls of bouquets of flowers paid for with our strapped cash are borne in to... Read more...
This morning I opened my front door to see a very large seagull using its beak to rip open a bag of my garbage and scatter it all over the pavement. Tomorrow a man is coming to remove a dead bird from blocking up our gutter which has resulted in... Read more...