This week’s non-job, again sent to us by a supporter, comes from Surrey County Council: “REMA Ethnic and Language Minority Support - Senior Specialist£33,652 - £36,114 You will be working in a specified area of Surrey and will have responsibility for ensuring the day-to-day management of a group... Read more...
Defaults on previous government loan scheme Amid all yesterday's talk of headless chickens and the traditional green shoots,the likely costs of the government's new company loan schemes got a bit overlooked. The biggest scheme involves taxpayers in guaranteeing £20bn of short-term bank loans to small businesses. Specifically, taxpayers are required to guarantee half of that, the rest of... Read more...
Research out this morning shows a dramatic drop in graduate recruitment, with targets for 2009 cut byan average of 17 per cent among the UK's top graduate employers (see here). Unsurprisingly it is the financial sector that has seen the biggest contraction in available jobs, with 47 per cent fewer... Read more...
Stewart Jackson MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, has an interesting piece over on ConservativeHome today. The article provides an excellent run-down and critique of the current proposals for yet more transfer of powers to regional quangos , including the establishment of "unelected economic and transport quangos"... Read more...
In many professions, 'incentivising' a position is simply a matter of offering more cash for it. We are all so driven by financial considerations - so the logic goes - that unappealing jobs can be made attractive by just attaching more money to them. Ed Balls is a disciple of... Read more...
That degree in Disco Studies may come in useful one day The present government has hugely increased state spending on education. This year they will spend well over £80bn, comfortably more than double what they inherited in 1997. In inflation adjusted terms, spending has increased by 5% pa, much faster than... Read more...
Unveiling a new poll revealing the public's appetite for radical change in Britain's relationship with the EU, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) and Global Vision (GV) today launch a new campaign to highlight the impact of the European Union on the lives and finances of British taxpayers. The campaign, which will... Read more...
It appears that schools are having trouble recruiting head teachers. Many are having to readvertise for posts that have been filled. It is suggested that few are willing to face the additional risks that come with being a head teacher in return for a relatively narrow differential in salary between... Read more...
The Times reports today that President-Elect Obama will appoint America's first Chief Performance Officer, to scour budgets line by line for inefficiencies and waste. While positions already exist in the federal government to monitor the efficacy of programs and initiatives (such as the Congressional 'Government Accountability Office' and 'Office of... Read more...
Aargh! What is it with the lunatics in our Town Halls? First Worcestershire County Council employs bureaucrats to tell people how to dish up their dinner, now Cheltenham Borough Council are giving their council staff time off to do volunteer work. To rub salt in the taxpayers wound – they’ll... Read more...
“Knock knock”“Who’s there?”“Worcestershire County Council’s Food Champions”. TPA supporter David Griffiths emailed us about a story in his local paper whereby Worcestershire County Council will be squandering your money on Food Champions, going door to door to educate people about “home composting, date label meanings, portioning guidance, storage tips... Read more...
Hogarth's take on apprenticeship "McDonald's is set to become the UK's largest apprenticeship provider, offering all workers the chance to qualify in "multi-skilled hospitality".The fast food chain said government funding meant it could offer the scheme to one in eight of its staff this year and up to 10,000 every... Read more...
Lobbying is - despite what many might hope - an inescapable feature of modern democracy. Diverse and plural societies such as ours rely on it for the representation of opinions and interests that would be lost in the broad themes of electoral politics. It is however an activity that has... Read more...
The term "watchdog", when applied to public bodies, is often a bit of an overstatement. The various quangos and committees intended to scrutinise the performance of politicians and public services are sadly more likely to whimper than bite. That cannot, however, be said of the UK Statistics Authority, whose head, Sir... Read more...
Welcome to the start of our non-job reports for 2009. You might ask after the Street Football Coordinators of last year, how we could ever top that this year. Well, the first week in and I think we may have. An industrious TPA supporter emailed in this job that could... Read more...
Today we have a very welcome announcement from the Conservatives. They are going to restrain spending in several Government departments and use the money to give a break to hard-pressed savers now and encourage more saving in the future. Basic rate taxpayers will no longer pay tax on their savings... Read more...
Over the weekend we got news of the government's New Year job creation programme: "Gordon Brown today unveils ambitious plans for a 1930s American-style programme of public works to ease the pain of recession by creating up to 100,000 jobs.School repairs, new rail links, hospital projects and plans to usher in a new... Read more...
Today's Times has an interesting piece by Libby Purves on the politicisation and professionalisation of the UK's voluntary sector. Taking stock of development since the 1970's Ms Purves observes some distinct and worrying changes in the ethos and priorities of many charities. Professionalisation, she concedes, was inevitable. Like any organisation a... Read more...
Richard Branson might seem an unlikely candidate to speak out on hospital infections, but he is vice-President of the Patient's Association and today has made a stinging attack on the numbers suffering from hospital infection. While infection rates are falling they are still alarmingly high: The entrepreneur - whose daughter Holly... Read more...
Insanity has broken out in Torbay council. As a report from the Sun discloses today, John Doble collects gold particles in his workshop and sends them onto a dealer - effectively recycling the gold. Torbay council, cue your pantomime season boos, stepped in and said the gold has to be... Read more...
With money scarce and jobs under threat, most families will be watching the pennies this Christmas. But, while VAT rates have been cut, the taxman will still demand a hefty share, with virtually all Christmas purchases, from iPhones to crackers, subject to VAT, and granny’s sherry attracting excise duty on... Read more...
The Bristol TPA blog has been in fine form this week with two sharp blog posts. Andrew Withers writes about how the value of his private pension has plummeted (thanks Gordon) and how the government have squandered your money on a wine cellar. Also casting their eye over Bristol... Read more...
It's extremely disappointing that the Home Secretary has apparently abandoned proposals to make the police properly accountable to the public by electing Police Authorities. Unfortunately, the reason she has got the jitters about the plans is exactly why directly elected authorities would be a good idea. The reasons she... Read more...
The first paper in the new Council Spending Uncovered series, which revealed councils' spending on publicity, has caused quite a stir. The figures have been reported in every corner of the land, and there has been a strong debate about which areas of spending could be cut back to reduce... Read more...