Public Sector

[Badger11]

I thought I would start a thread on the Public Sector part of the economy. As long as it is relevant please post your topic.

My first post is the often quoted "Public Sector services are creaking and undermanned" , but are they?

Certainly some areas have productivity issues e.g. NHS and may need more staff. However the Police for instance have record numbers and yet can't turn up to arrest shoplifters or burglars. Is that under manning or incompetence?

I tried to find a graph of the number of public sector workers since 1945*, I tried and failed with AI but if anyone can provide that it will be useful data. I did find this from the ONS

Public sector personnel - Office for National Statistics

People employed in central and local government, and public corporations, including second jobs in the public sector. Includes Civil Service employment with regional and diversity analyses.

www.ons.gov.uk

So are they creaking or is it poor productivity.

*1945 probably not a good idea in hindsight as this would include all the nationalised industries like coal and steel. Perhaps a graph from 1990 by when most of this stuff had been nationalised or had collapsed.

 

[PalazioVecchio]

I tried to find a graph of the number of public sector workers since 1945, I tried and failed with AI but if anyone can provide that it will be useful data.

rather than number of employees, i would suggest Public Sector expenditure as a percentage of GNP. cos maybe in Victorian times, 10,000 farm workers would do less work than a single Tractor today. Something similar for all jobs.

 

[Matov]

Managerialism. Worth looking into. Essentially, the public sector is run primarily for the benefit of the management rather than the people it is meant to serve. Process becomes more important than productivity.

 

[Badger11]

Report finds Arts Council is 'sidelining work to change society'

The watchdog, which hands out more than £450million a year in public funding, came under fire in a report by Baroness Hodge, the former Labour culture minister.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Labour Peer condemns Arts Council spending.

 

[georgenorman]

A large axe should be taken to the public sector.

 

[Badger11]

A large axe should be taken to the public sector.

I am not in favour of chipping away at the public sector e.g. each department cutting by 5%. This often leads to areas that need investment suffering whilst other areas that could cut by far more are let off the hook.

My own preference is for targeted and specific reductions. For instance start with why does this department exist, what is it's purpose. Over the decades the government has intruded into all walks of life and maybe didn't need to.

In the past I have mention abolishing the Department of Culture and Sport which has just bureaucratised those areas and has many overlapping bodies. The DTI also need investigating.

Councils should be encouraged to merge their back offices, some have started this but it's not enough.

The Police force needs radical reform, too many smaller forces e.g. City of London for once I agree with Labour on this. The Met need to be split into 2 parts. Part 1 should be normal policing for London. Part 2 should be all the national and special responsibilities they currently do e.g. Anti Terrorism, guarding embassies, state visits etc. The head of the domestic Met should be focusing on mugging and stabbings not worrying about Trump or Macron coming to London.

Some areas will need more investment e.g. probation and prison service.

Anyway just a few examples.

 

[georgenorman]

I am not in favour of chipping away at the public sector e.g. each department cutting by 5%. This often leads to areas that need investment suffering whilst other areas that could cut by far more are let off the hook.

My own preference is for targeted and specific reductions. For instance start with why does this department exist, what is it's purpose. Over the decades the government has intruded into all walks of life and maybe didn't need to.

In the past I have mention abolishing the Department of Culture and Sport which has just bureaucratised those areas and has many overlapping bodies. The DTI also need investigating.

Councils should be encouraged to merge their back offices, some have started this but it's not enough.

The Police force needs radical reform, too many smaller forces e.g. City of London for once I agree with Labour on this. The Met need to be split into 2 parts. Part 1 should be normal policing for London. Part 2 should be all the national and special responsibilities they currently do e.g. Anti Terrorism, guarding embassies, state visits etc. The head of the domestic Met should be focusing on mugging and stabbings not worrying about Trump or Macron coming to London.

Some areas will need more investment e.g. probation and prison service.

Anyway just a few examples.

Police Commissioners who costing around £25 million a year are being abolished - hurrah.
Abolish the Scottish Parliament which costs around £721 million a year.
Abolish the Welsh Parliament which costs around £84 million a year.
Abolish Regional Mayors who are collectively paid c£1 million a year, along with their bloated, largely unnecessary bureaucracies.
Sack all the diversity police in the civil service and NHS.
While we are at it, reintroduce tax relief for people choosing private health care and education, thus reducing pressure on public services. Have far more involvement of the private sector in the NHS.
These are just a few initial thoughts, I'm sure we can come up with lots more.