Spending Cuts To Send 'shockwave' Through Whitehall

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/georgeosborne/7758805/Spending-cuts-to-send-shockwave-through-Whitehall.html

Immediate public spending cuts of £6.25 billion are designed to send a "shockwave" through Whitehall, the Government has announced.

The Chancellor, standing alongside his Lib Dem deputy at the Treasury, David Laws, said the reductions would be made while maintaining ''frontline'' services in key areas such as the NHS. He also announced that schools spending would be protected.

Mr Laws is to chair an "efficiency and reform group" including with Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude to help push through the savings quickly and hold bodies to account.

"It will provide a central unit in the Government that can negotiate on behalf of all Government departments to renegotiate contracts to give our Government as much clout as possible to go out there to the private sector and negotiate savings," he said.

"But it is also imposing, with the agreement of the Treasury, some quite draconian controls over the next year on expenditure on consultancy, on advertising on IT, which will require approval down to a very low level of spending.

"There were some people who said 'Is this too draconian, are we being too inflexible?'. Actually, my view is that, unless we send out this sort of shockwave through Government departments to say 'You can't spend on all these areas', that they are not actually priorities, we won't get the step change in behaviour we expect.

"So we are being very draconian and very inflexible, deliberately, over the next year to drive out these types of costs."

The group will look at areas such as IT spending - with a freeze on £1 million-plus projects, procurement, advertising and marketing - with only "essential" items allowed, Civil Service expenses - such as cars and first-class travel - and recruitment and property.

There will also be an "immediate review to create a more simplified approach to Civil Service pay structures and terms and conditions", the Cabinet Office said.

Mr Osborne said the scale of savings identified meant that school spending could be added to health, defence and international development budgets which have already been promised protection from new cuts.

Mr Osborne said the savings would include:

:: More than £1 billion of "discretionary" spending such as consultancy and travel;

:: Nearly £2 billion from IT programmes, suppliers and property;

:: Over £700 million from "restraining recruitment" and cutting quangos.

:: More than £500 million from cutting "low-value spending".

The savings were based on "strong economic advice" from the Bank of England and the Treasury in favour of "early action to deal with our debt", the Chancellor said.

Very thorough spending cuts, the debt burden is lifting already...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7134898.ece

10.50am: More details are coming through from the Treasury ... Here are the main savings, per department:

Education — £670 million

Transport — £683 million

Communities — £780 million

Local Government — £405 million

Business — £836 million

Home Office — £367 million

Work and Pensions — £535 million

Justice — £325 million

Devolved administrations — £704 million.

We are all saved rejoice.

[bomberbrown]

We are all saved rejoice.

Rejoice indeed. We borrowed that little lot in the space of 10 days.

[yokel]

I haven't heard an informed journalist ask for details on any of these cuts.

Not everything that every quango does is expensive or wasteful - (but quite a lot of it is.) Also, Labour made the quangos and their work very vulnerable to a tory govt by putting Labour placement in lots of senior positions.

I work in education, but would be considered `front line' so am probably not at direct risk for my job. However the QCDA (used to be QCA) sets the national curricula - ensures different subjects don't overlap but fit together, monitors and moderates school assessment data on pupils and makes sure the GCSE/A levels etc are to a particular standard.

Now lots of this isn't done very well - and it costs a lot of money - so the QCDA is a fair target for efficiency savings, changes of direction, higher standards etc, but that is different from abolishing it altogether. Who, or what will do the curriculum stuff? Dont' forget it was Kenneth Baker (Con) who brought in the national curriculum because many schools couldn't be trusted to give a balanced education without it.

Gove seems to think that all headteachers are competent (talented even) committed, honest and just need freeing from any supervision in order to deliver fantastic education. I think he is wrong on that - they come from the same population as MPs, bankers, estate agents, me and you.

Y

[ImA20SomethingGetMeOutOfHere]

I haven't heard an informed journalist ask for details on any of these cuts.

Not everything that every quango does is expensive or wasteful - (but quite a lot of it is.) Also, Labour made the quangos and their work very vulnerable to a tory govt by putting Labour placement in lots of senior positions.

I work in education, but would be considered `front line' so am probably not at direct risk for my job. However the QCDA (used to be QCA) sets the national curricula - ensures different subjects don't overlap but fit together, monitors and moderates school assessment data on pupils and makes sure the GCSE/A levels etc are to a particular standard.

Now lots of this isn't done very well - and it costs a lot of money - so the QCDA is a fair target for efficiency savings, changes of direction, higher standards etc, but that is different from abolishing it altogether. Who, or what will do the curriculum stuff? Dont' forget it was Kenneth Baker (Con) who brought in the national curriculum because many schools couldn't be trusted to give a balanced education without it.

Gove seems to think that all headteachers are competent (talented even) committed, honest and just need freeing from any supervision in order to deliver fantastic education. I think he is wrong on that - they come from the same population as MPs, bankers, estate agents, me and you.

Y

Most of the useful bits of the QCA as was have been farmed off to another quanqo, OFQUAL which now oversees GCSE exams amongst other things. I think that the QCDA was supposed to focus more on development than maintaining the existing system. Given that the DfES is also supposed to have something to do with the national curriculum I guess the QCDA was seen as rather redundant. Also, it would seem that another education quango, becta is to face the chop as well. If anybody notices their passing then I'll be very impressed.

[ImA20SomethingGetMeOutOfHere]

Here's what the chief stooge of BECTA has to say for himself:

http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=42305

Announcement on the future of Becta

On 24 May, the Government announced a package of public sector savings. These plans include the closure of Becta.

Graham Badman, Chairman and Stephen Crowne, Chief Executive of Becta responded:

“Naturally we are very disappointed at the Government’s decision. Becta is a very effective organisation with an international reputation, delivering valuable services to schools, colleges and children. Our procurement arrangements save the schools and colleges many times more than Becta costs to run. Our Home Access programme will give laptops and broadband to over 200,000 of the poorest children.

Our top priorities now are to make sure we have an orderly and fair process for staff, and that as far as possible schools, colleges and children continue to benefit from the savings and support that Becta has provided. We will be talking to Government Departments and our other stakeholders including the industry about this.”

I wonder if this means that Gordon Brown's free laptops for chavs program is dead as well now.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

The cuts are necessary, the wasteful spending is shocking !!!

It's all how you look at it.

If you ran your personal financnes the way these people do they'd lock you up.

[yokel]

Here's what the chief stooge of BECTA has to say for himself:

http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=42305

Announcement on the future of Becta

On 24 May, the Government announced a package of public sector savings. These plans include the closure of Becta.

Graham Badman, Chairman and Stephen Crowne, Chief Executive of Becta responded:

“Naturally we are very disappointed at the Government’s decision. Becta is a very effective organisation with an international reputation, delivering valuable services to schools, colleges and children. Our procurement arrangements save the schools and colleges many times more than Becta costs to run. Our Home Access programme will give laptops and broadband to over 200,000 of the poorest children.

Our top priorities now are to make sure we have an orderly and fair process for staff, and that as far as possible schools, colleges and children continue to benefit from the savings and support that Becta has provided. We will be talking to Government Departments and our other stakeholders including the industry about this.”

I wonder if this means that Gordon Brown's free laptops for chavs program is dead as well now.

Cynical but with more than a grain of truth joke in my profession: "Gone are the days when pupils just copied stuff down off the blackboard. Now they copy it down from an interactive whiteboard."

The belief that throwing computers at schools (very lucrative for hardware suppliers and Bill Gates) is a panacea was one of Labour's great follies. They are important, yes, but they take financial (ongoing), space and time resources. They were also symptomatic of another wasteful public expenditure policy - where institutions have got to spend the money immediately (even if they don't really need to yet) or lose it.

Again - the BECTA thing could be valuable if its remit was to carefully manage introduction of ICT to schools, with success being measured (properly measured) in pupil achievement, attendance, skills development etc, rather than success being measured in numbers of computers and maximising the spend.

Y

[RichB]

Cynical but with more than a grain of truth joke in my profession: "Gone are the days when pupils just copied stuff down off the blackboard. Now they copy it down from an interactive whiteboard."

The belief that throwing computers at schools (very lucrative for hardware suppliers and Bill Gates) is a panacea was one of Labour's great follies. They are important, yes, but they take financial (ongoing), space and time resources. They were also symptomatic of another wasteful public expenditure policy - where institutions have got to spend the money immediately (even if they don't really need to yet) or lose it.

Again - the BECTA thing could be valuable if its remit was to carefully manage introduction of ICT to schools, with success being measured (properly measured) in pupil achievement, attendance, skills development etc, rather than success being measured in numbers of computers and maximising the spend.

Y

On top of that it also seems that no one could be bothered to teach the teachers how to use them effectively in the first place...

[Bloo Loo]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

[roger196]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

Rather than sacking staff, I would prefer the maximum salary in any public funded institution to be £50,000 per year. Those on £25,000or less not to be affected. To implement this:-

Excess over £75,000 to be reduced by 100%

Balance between £25,000 and £75,000 to be reduced by 50%

Band under £25,000 no reduction.

For public funded pensions, a similar process to achieve a max pension of £25,000 per year with those on £12,500 or less unaffected.

[Cogs]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

I agree, exactly the sort of income tax regime we need. And here you are again, doing your Gordon Brown impression. NHS consultants will work for whatever I pay them! I laugh in the face of labour markets! Or are you going to build a big wall round the place to stop people leaving?

Edited May 24, 2010 by Cogs

[nixy]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

yup. pension payments an' all........ over 20k halved.

ALL benefit payments reduced by 20%, across the board.

Jeez, imagine the effect on PMs if such policies (sanity) were implemented throughout western economies.

edit the usual grammer wordy stuff mistaykes

fundamental reasoning pretty sound tho

Edited May 24, 2010 by nixy

[Injin]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

They'll get round to it eventually, at which point the leadership wil lbe replaced by one that will keep public sector wages right back where they were.

The point of the state is to get those who work in it more money than they are otherwise able to get and they don't mind chucking bricks, setting things on fire, following an obviously mad scottish sociopath or whatever to get it.

[mfp123]

the cuts are embarrassingly small.

£6 billion!

revenues have fallen from £600 billion in 2008 to £450 billion this year.

the budget deficit is £156 billion this year .

£130 billion next year and about £110 billion the year after that.

this is the magnitude of the problem.

by 2012 we will be around £1.3 trillion in debt. and the budget forecast stops there.

what about years 2013, 2014, 2015?

we would need a £150billion Surplus every year for 5 years just to get debts anywhere near back to normal levels. thats a £200-300 billion swing.

the reason why things parallel so closely with japan is that by the time we get to £1.5 trillion we will be stuck in a debt spiral becuase theres no way we will start producing £100 billion surpluses to pay it down given that the the economy only takes in £500 billion a year in tax.

A £100billion surplus from a £500billion budget? no chance.

we are approaching the era of the debt mountain

Edited May 24, 2010 by mfp123

[LiveinHope]

where are the salary cuts?

I suggest anything over 25K is halved.

today.

Net or Gross ?

Anyway, so arbritrary.

I know of a 'public' sector worker (10 years) paid between 25K and 50K who has brought 10's millions in revenue INTO the country as a direct result of their IP, funding the employment of several people. Perhaps they should take one of the jobs abroad they are offered ?

[ImA20SomethingGetMeOutOfHere]

They'll get round to it eventually, at which point the leadership wil lbe replaced by one that will keep public sector wages right back where they were.

The point of the state is to get those who work in it more money than they are otherwise able to get and they don't mind chucking bricks, setting things on fire, following an obviously mad scottish sociopath or whatever to get it.

Now in the interest of fairness, I'd like to point out that I am a teacher in a state secondary school and would be more that happy, delighted in fact, to see the entire bureaucratic, stinking mess that is modern "government" sink into the abyss never to be seen again.

I could have a pay rise then for starters

[OnlyMe]

Where have all the dross radio (public information) ads gone?

[The Masked Tulip]

We had a 'bonfire of the Quangos' in Wales in 1997 - all the QUNAGOs were got rid of, their power transferred to Rhodri Morgan and their staff transferred to the Welsh civil service.

Now Wales aims to not implement any cuts on the Assembly in htis financial year - but do it next year instead!

*****?

Can I say w*nk on here?

[nixy]

Net or Gross ?

Anyway, so arbritrary.

I know of a 'public' sector worker (10 years) paid between 25K and 50K who has brought 10's millions in revenue INTO the country as a direct result of their IP, funding the employment of several people. Perhaps they should take one of the jobs abroad they are offered ?

Fair enough, anything over 25K halved plus 10% of any income generated. Seems reasonable??

Is there a problem?

[hilltop]

Fewer jobs in both private and public sector.

Less help for the long term unemployed.

No stimulus, just the reverse, for growth.

More unemployed means a higher social and financial cost.

Pushing us over into the double dip.

Didn't have the ***** to make a statement in Parliament.

Couldn't have done worse.

[robo1968]

the cuts are embarrassingly small.

£6 billion!

revenues have fallen from £600 billion in 2008 to £450 billion this year.

the budget deficit is £156 billion this year .

£130 billion next year and about £110 billion the year after that.

this is the magnitude of the problem.

by 2012 we will be around £1.3 trillion in debt. and the budget forecast stops there.

what about years 2013, 2014, 2015?

we would need a £150billion Surplus every year for 5 years just to get debts anywhere near back to normal levels. thats a £200-300 billion swing.

the reason why things parallel so closely with japan is that by the time we get to £1.5 trillion we will be stuck in a debt spiral becuase theres no way we will start producing £100 billion surpluses to pay it down given that the the economy only takes in £500 billion a year in tax.

A £100billion surplus from a £500billion budget? no chance.

we are approaching the era of the debt mountain

What a mess...... and they couldn't see it coming?

[nixy]

We had a 'bonfire of the Quangos' in Wales in 1997 - all the QUNAGOs were got rid of, their power transferred to Rhodri Morgan and their staff transferred to the Welsh civil service.

Now Wales aims to not implement any cuts on the Assembly in htis financial year - but do it next year instead!

*****?

Can I say w*nk on here?

I don't know, let me try.

*****

No luck there I'm afraid

you need one of the rude word generators, that gets past the censor

[Potwalloper]

Or are you going to build a big wall round the place to stop people leaving?

What for?

[Guest sillybear2]

Cutting 1% of the government's budget causes 'shockwaves'? Yeah right, this is simply spin, where's the other 10% gonna come from?

[LiveinHope]

Fair enough, anything over 25K halved plus 10% of any income generated. Seems reasonable??

Is there a problem?

I am sure they would find that more rewarding than the present system