Rather surprisingly there’s something to congratulate Stoke-On-Trent Council on this week as they attempt to claw back £790,000 of taxpayers’ money per year by doing away with one of their favoured perks (The Sentinel). Until now, due to their lump sum payment, essential car users at the authority have... Read more...
Another week, another story of shameless squandering of taxpayers’ money. With the news of the government’s inability to regulate bailed-out banks’ unreasonable bonus hand-out fresh on our minds, it emerged this week that bonuses totalling £295,000 were paid out to 29 civil servants at the UK Border Agency last year... Read more...
The FT reports that the Government are expected to announce plans to cut spending by 14 per cent over the next three years outside of the core public services of schools, hospitals and the police. It is very good news that the Government are taking the need to cut... Read more...
The very Warwickshire county councillor responsible for ensuring value for money went before a sub-committee yesterday accused of breaching the members code of conduct after submitting excessive expenses claims (Coventry Telegraph). Readers of this blog might remember that back in May Coun Martin Heatley (then the county’s environment leader)... Read more...
Following the meeting with SurreyCC on 3rd November they issued a press release - agreed with Business, Trade Union and Voluntary group reps and including my quote acknowledging their decision to do a ‘Chairman’s Annual Report’ in future - but no answers to our tabled questions have yet been received as had... Read more...
“We will also merge or abolish 123 government arms length bodies with the remainder subjected to greater oversight with a view to save a further £500 million a year." So said Gordon Brown yesterday. And it sounds great. As did the rest of the speech, launching the paper Putting the... Read more...
Ahead of the Pre-Budget Report 2009, political attention is rightly focussed on the unprecedented fiscal crisis. With the second highest deficit in the EU, the second highest structural deficit in the G20 advanced countries, and debt set to double in three years, this is a problem which demands the full... Read more...
The Evening Standard reports that Boris Johnson is faced with the possibility of having to ban cars entirely from London for several days or be slapped with a £300 million fine from the EU. There is a wider debate to be had over why London is failing to hit... Read more...
As politicians call for a pay freeze, public sector executives get a 5.4% pay rise • In 2008-09 at least 806 people received remuneration packages of £150,000 or more a year • 8 people in the public sector earned more than £1 million a year, compared with 4... Read more...
As you know, at the TPA we have our weekly ‘Non-job of the week’, but here are a couple of our very own West Midlands non-jobs, as advertised by our local councils. And if there ever was any doubt that we’ve evolved too far, check out these two vacancies and... Read more...
Another Wednesday and a new influx of non-jobs hit the pages of the Society Guardian. From scanning these adverts, one could reasonably assume that the majority of public bodies care more for their reputation than they do for their service delivery, with vacancies for communications professionals filling every page. ... Read more...
Staggering news this week: the University of Leeds are advertising for a researcher, on £31,000 salary paid for by you and I, to look into lap dancing. To travel the length of the country, valiantly talking to every lap dancer they can find, and then produce a report, telling us why these girls are... Read more...
It's easy to be cynical about 'better government' campaigns. Little ever seems to change, and the only interests that appear to matter are those of the political elite. Why would those in power want to change a system that they control? But, as the TPA itself is testament, campaigns can... Read more...
Bob Humphreys, Finance Director at Oxfam, has responded to our recent report on UK international development spending - Lost Along the Way - in the Times today. To read it in full, read here. Our comment in response is replicated below: Dear Mr Humphreys, Firstly, thank you for taking the... Read more...
The unfairness remains Last year we published a paper on the Barnett Formula calling for its abolition (see here and here). We argued that Scotland should be granted full fiscal autonomy, with responsibility for raising its own tax revenues. Since then we've had a weighty report from the Calman Commission... Read more...
West Midlands blogger The Stirrer makes an interesting observation today, noting that Birmingham City Council are still happily hiring for highly paid non-jobs, seemingly unphased by how insensitive this might look to taxpayers and soon-to-be redundant staff. The newly created position is for a Climate Change Adaptation and Green... Read more...
How many people work for the government? Some disgruntled taxpayers reckon the answer is none. On balance, we think that's a tad harsh. But prompted by a comment on a recent BOM post, we've taken another look at how many are employed by the government.We start with the official count... Read more...
In 2008 Maryland introduced a new, higher tax rate for millionaires. Last year, 30 per cent of their millionaires disappeared: "Maryland's chief tax collector reported that the number of millionaires in the state plunged 30 percent last year to the lowest level in four years and that some wealthy... Read more...
It seems that you aren’t anybody unless your reputation is managed with PR and spin these days, and even the authorities that deal with our rubbish are concerned with having a sparkling clean image. The North London Waste Authority isn’t content being the rather ugly sounding wall flower of... Read more...
I've posted an analysis on CentreRight of a new poll by Ipsos MORI out today that headlines on the idea that the public aren't convinced of the need for lower public spending. Interestingly, when you actually look at the full findings of the new poll, it shows that people are enthusiastic... Read more...
The debate over green policies has taken an interesting turn today. For years now the fundamental assumption of green policy making has been that the only possibility is charging people more, taxing people more and restricting people's behaviour more. The announcement from the Tories, though, threatens that consensus. They... Read more...
The Commons is in trouble. People had little faith in the institution before this summer's revelations - widely perceiving it to be both toothless and venal - but belief in MPs (as a group) is surely at an all time low. Unless changes are made urgently, politics - and particularly... Read more...
There has been quite a storm raging on the blogosphere over the last few days about a large batch of emails, climate data and other information that has allegedly been leaked or hacked from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit. It's not in the TPA's field or remit... Read more...
Marginally fewer public sector jobs advertised on the Guardian site this week, but nevertheless, a hearty 540 dominated by middle-management and executive positions. Runner-up this week goes to an advertisement from the DWP for a non-executive position on the Healthy and Safety Executive, earning a cool £16,371 for “up... Read more...