The Sentinel reports today on the cost of parking provision for Stoke-On-Trent City Council workers after the West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance received a Freedom of Information response revealing that public sector parking permits were costing local taxpayers’ nearly £700,000. This is almost as much as the astronomically expensive refurbishments... Read more...
Let's get this straight. People who think that the deep cleaning is a gimmick, at best: The Lancet medical journal. The cleaning contractors hired to do the deep clean. People who think it is a good idea: Gordon Brown - briefly an academic and then... Read more...
This morning a group of dedicated low-tax campaigners descended on Barnet County Courthouse to support TPA activist Rick Stratton in his bid to get justice over his council tax bills. Rick’s case revolves around Hertsmere Council demanding council tax on a property they declared as “unfit for human habitation”, a... Read more...
Man sprouts twigs while waiting for action For taxpayers the New Year has brought no good news on the Crock. Brown and Darling are still dithering in the headlights, while we remain on the hook for over £50bn of loans and guarantees. Hopes of a cost-free exit diminish by... Read more...
Quango Advantage West Midlands have decided to recruit a new bureaucrat to their ranks at a cost of up to £37,000. Read more...
According to yesterday’s Express and Star 12 council staff at Black Country housing company, Sandwell Homes, were given “mind therapy sessions” costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds. The report claims that the one-to-one therapy sessions for maintenance and housing managers encouraged employees to share their thoughts on a “search... Read more...
What a great start to the New Year the TaxPayers’ Alliance is having. Over the Christmas and New Year period, when we publicised our Christmas Tax and Non-Job reports, we managed to recruit 35 new activists. Activists differ from supporters because they are committed to recruiting, campaigning and promoting the... Read more...
Thar she blows! And we're paying The Guardian has surveyed the cash wasted on Whitehall's abandoned IT projects. According to their survey, the known cost of projects abandoned since 2000 is now £2bn. They highlight: Downing St led projects- "the much-derided £486m computer upgrade at the Child Support Agency (CSA),... Read more...
Some people never learn. Our report into local government publicity spending revealed a half billion pound industry promoting local councils. This taxpayer-funded pat-on-the-back for local politicians and their council officers brought outrage from taxpayers, and rightly so. Help the Aged found that 10% of pensioners have to forego buying food... Read more...
Today the Better Government Initiative, a group of establishment figures with no relation to our campaign, have published their report (PDF) today and have noted the problem of inexperienced political management: "Ministers are increasingly drawn from a specialist political background with little experience of the management and operation of large... Read more...
The Telegraph reports a suggestion that the training of doctors should be split off from the NHS: "Billions of pounds for junior doctors' training should be taken out of the NHS and given to a new medical education body, an independent inquiry will conclude. The inquiry into the junior doctor... Read more...
The Telegraph has an excellent leader today describing the absurdities of political management in the NHS: "There is something faintly absurd in the spectacle of Gordon Brown - who is, after all, a politician, not a medical professional - making detailed recommendations for clinical practice in healthcare. But in Britain,... Read more...
Stephen Carter, Gordon Brown's new Principal Special Advisor, may be familiar to assiduous students of TPA campaigns. Back in November, when we launched the 2007 Public Sector Rich List, Mr Carter came in at Number 32 with a stonking remuneration package of almost £400,000. Having come under fire, he... Read more...
It’s that time of year again, when we hear of our council tax and other local taxes going up and up. Yet we’re seeing more and more elected representatives standing up for the taxpayer and committing themselves to fighting against tax increases. First we reported how Hammersmith and Fulham council... Read more...
Victorian engineering wins So who's going to pay for the new Forth road bridge (nearest in the pic)?In case you missed it, the existing road bridge (middle one) is falling apart. And the damage is so bad, Scotland's SNP government has decided it will be cheaper to build... Read more...
The Telegraph reports that both Cambridge and the LSE have drawn up a list of subjects that are considered insufficiently academic to form a preparation for candidates to study at their universities. These include business studies, travel and tourism and media studies. The universities have confirmed what has been apparent... Read more...
Near the end of last month the European Services Strategy Unit released a study (PDF) looking at cost overruns in outsourced government IT projects. They looked at 105 contracts and found: "The average percentage cost overrun is 30.5%. 57% of contracts experienced cost overruns." Compare this with the results of... Read more...
The Better Government Initiative, a "grouping of top civil servants, ambassadors and former local government chief executives" with no relation to our own campaign, are set to report today. The Financial Times describes how they will argue that: "Gordon Brown's proposals for revamping the way Britain is governed address neither... Read more...
Which just leaves death and taxes Some waste stories from Christmas and the New Year:Outsourcing overruns cost £9bn- "Research by the European Services Strategy Unit shows that 105 outsourced public sector ICT contracts have significant cost overruns, delays and terminations. The unit examined large outsourcing contracts, PPPs, PFIs and strategic... Read more...
The OECD's new Health at a Glance statistics paint a picture of the poor value for money we get from the NHS. We spend almost exactly the OECD average amount on healthcare. The OECD average is $2,759 PPP wheras the UK's is $2,724 PPP. However, we don't get average... Read more...
From today's Financial Times: "German industrialists have urged Alistair Darling to rethink his “highly regrettable” tax changes for foreign residents. German Industry UK, which represents 250 companies in Britain, wants the chancellor to postpone the new tax measures and allow a period of thorough consultation... "Some German businesses have been... Read more...
The BBC reports fury in Germany at EU proposals to restrict emissions from new cars: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel has opposed European Union (EU) plans to cut pollution from new cars, saying it was "not economically favourable". She said the move would burden Germany and its carmakers disproportionately." It would... Read more...
We’d all prefer to spend Christmas Eve at home with our families, but should all of the employees of Stoke-On-Trent City Council be treated to the day off as a thank you for all of their “hard work” at taxpayers’ expense? This ‘thank you’ gift on behalf of the taxpayers... Read more...
This clip, from Friction TV, has the first five minutes. The full video is here. Read more...