Dennis Benson

Posts Tagged ‘Audit Commission’

The wheels seem to be coming off the coalition’s cost-saving bandwagon! When ministers announced, within days of the election, the scrapping of Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Quangos galore the initial reaction from most of my fellow ferret breeders was one of delight. That was when they laboured under the delusion that there were precise plans in place. Now it is a different matter altogether for it is becoming clearer by the day that the headlines we heard were all that there was.

No fewer than 177 quangos perished at a stroke, may of them deservedly for they had bred like rabbits under the last goverment. Who, in a supposed age of localism, needs a central advisory panel on local innovation? Who needs quangos that monitor quangos? And who needs advice from the great, good and friends of ministers that pack these bodies? But those who defend the rights of mentally ill and disabled people do need a champion yet the Public Guardian Board has suffered the same fate as countless others. Most of us have never heard of many of those now resting in Sir Humphrey’s out tray but we have heard of the Audit Commission which represented the only realistic check on just what local authorities are spending our cash on. It too now lies dead. But who or what is going to take on the important role that it played?

Right now there is chaos across the land. Surely someone should have had the wit to examine what each quango actually does before axeing it. Yes, we all dislike the name but even the most vehement critic must acknowledge that at least some of them did something that needs to be done. Leaving all the organisations over which they presided free to spend on the first thing that comes into their heads does not sound very sensible.

In the NHS absolute chaos prevails. Primary Care Trusts have made huge numbers redundant and some have set up joint commissioning panels in anticipation of the inevitable inability of GPs to take over their roles as announced by the hapless Andrew Lansley, who has the doubtful honour of being named by clinicians as the worst ever Secretary of State for Health. He can expect patients to follow suit once they realise that the ad-hoc commissioners are switching services vast distances from their local hospitals! And who will regulate the finances of Foundation Trusts now that Monitor has been diverted on to other tasks? Talk to anyone employed in the NHS and encounter bewilderment on a grand scale!

It doesn’t need Alan Sugar to work out that massive changes such as those triggered by a flurry of hasty announcements need to be planned carefully, and phased in only as the replacements become available. There is every reason to believe that all this is going to sharply increase costs and impair services in the short term And you don’t need to be the sacker of apprentices to know that short term in this context means two to three years!

What is it about the Brits that makes us so incompetent? The Labour government added layer after layer of bureaucracy in almost every field and they employed an army of expensive management consultants to arrange them. The coalition has leapt in the opposite direction but clearly has no overall strategy or understanding of what needs to be done or the consequences of doing it. And they are running a vast enterpise called the United Kingdom.

The popular view seems to be that Lansley, Gove ( who even had to amend his announcement on schools within days), and the rest of them, are merely rearranging the chairs on the decks of the Titanic. Perhaps the time has come to send for the Monster Raving Loony Party!

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                                                                 SAVING IS THE NEW EVIL!

The name of the deputy governor of the Bank of England is Mr Bean, which seems apt. I say that because his statement on saving strikes me as plain barmy. In esssence he has told savers to stop moaning and to start spending. In fact most are now doing just that given the virtual elimination of interest and the total withdrawal of National Savings index-linked certificates.

Of course one can understand the benefit to the economy in the short term but surely the longer term effect will be to render the state liable to fund all nursing and residential home care once the present mass of older people reach the stage of needing it.

And isn’t it also fundamentally unfair? At present the state has to totally support many who have simply not bothered to ‘save for  a rainy day’. Now it seems that the prudent ones, who surely deserve applause, are to be villified for their prudence. Something tells me that Mr Bean hasn’t used his self understanding to think this through!

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                                                                  GOOD ADVICE FOR THE TORY ASSASSINS!

For me the best column of the day is that of Julian Glover. He warns that smearing Labour’s new leader, a decent man, will backfire. They should be testing him instead.

There seems to be evidence that Ed Miliband is not as excitingly adventurous as his brother and may prove vulnerable on detail. But simply attacking him with endless childish abuse will have the effect of endearing him to the public which always swings behind any victim of mindless bullying. One would have thought that the Tories and their press baron friends would have learned a lesson from the dramatic rise of Nick Clegg. Instead of questioning his policies they resorted to a tirade of abuse and millions set up a ‘all Clegg’s fault’ campaign aimed at both defending him and making the bullies look ridiculous.

A glance at today’s polls ought to be a warning. For the first time in three years labour leads the Conservatives!

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YESTERDAY’S QUIZ ANSWERS;  1.  Londonderry   2.  Uganda

TODAY’S QUESTIONS;   1.  Which country exploded its first nuclear device in 1974?   2.  Why did Britain work a three-day week in 1974?

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We have the fire on maximum in the shed this morning and as we gather round in steaming clothes we wonder why anyone with enough readies to holiday abroad would be as daft as David Cameron who is shivering in the West Country and banging on about ‘staycations’. Add to that the fact that he has left the equivalent to Eddie the Eagle in charge of the nation and you begin to wonder what lies behind that plummy exterior. It was whilst we were crouched in a scene resembling armageddon that Lance Corporal Jenkins – like retired Generals, Jack still uses his rank - mentioned Quangos.

Apparently a friend has long held a position of non-executive director on such a body. Selection process seemed to comprise his wife knowing the Charman’s wife and the pay is good for doing little other than turning up once per month. And there are hundreds of such bodies, all working on the basis of creating rules, each of which requires more inspectors ad infinitum. But before various ferreters could begin to reach for their mobiles I warned them about the new slayer of Quangos, none other than Eric Pickles.

The new Communities Secretary may look like the answer to who ate all the pies but he is off to a good start. Nothing like hitting a big target on day one and our Eric has done just that. He has abolished the National Audit Commission. This august body was created in the 1980s to monitor the performance of local authorities and other public services. Sadly it hasn’t monitored its own excesses, which are considerable. Six members of its ‘management team’ earn more than the Prime Minister and it was only the intervention of the slayer that prevented the new chief executive being paid £240,000. He was not overly pleased either at the decision to spend £50,000 on a lobbying company!

The big-spending Commission has no fewer than 37 offices and employs over 2000 people but cannot even balance its own books – last year it posted a £9 million loss. So out it goes!

But it is far from alone. Take Ofcam, the media regulator. That pays its chief the unbelievable amount of £400,000, employs 873 people and gets through a cool £142 million each year. A lot of public money to cover the cost of an occasional rebuke for the BBC! And then there is the Equality and Human Rights Commission whose accounts have not been signed off for the past two years because of “irregular expenditure in a number of areas”, and the Charity Commission which blew £7.5 million last year “promoting the effective use of resources”. And the list goes on and on.

Hopefully our Eric will take another slice of cow pie, take a deep breath and scrub every single one of them. Any that feel able to demonstrate that what they do is remotely in the public interest could then apply for re-sanction with reasonable salaries and structures. If Cameron is serious about local enpowerment this is surely the way to go.

We musn’t load young Pickles with too much but it might also be helpful were he to take a peep at the Health and Safety lot. They seem to breed like ferrets and produce a new rule each week. The latest headline-hitter is their ruling that the grass at the 900 year old Carlisle Castle cannot be cut since it is on a slope near the former moat. There has been widespread criticism of the scruffy appearance of a place for ever renowned for its immaculate appearance but English Heritage have had to comply with “updated guidance from the Health and Safety Executive”. There is no record of anyone ever having been injured whilst cutting the grass since time immemorial but it will be cut no more. Not quite as daft as goggles for kids playing conkers but right up there with the thousands of lunacies enacted by this pompous waste-of-money busybody organisation whose self understanding is so slight that it believes we all value it.

So go to it Eric. You do not have the haggard appearance of an executioner but we need one. And not least on a day when we learn that we are to be the only developed country to ban the use of a life-extending drug for patients with terminal bowel cancer. Like many of the draconian cuts it is hard to accept whilst fat-cats stalk the land with impunity!

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                                              THE BANKS GO FROM BAD TO WORSE! 

A few months ago I lashed out on some ISAs, virtually the last investment offering any hope of matching inflation. Barclays extensive advertising offered 2.55%, hardly generous but it was the best on offer. Today I received a letter confirming news of Barclay’s intention to reduce the interest to 2.23%.

Why? One can only assume that the incredible salaries dished out to the top executives not to mention bonuses, are proving a bit of a challenge to the ‘bottom line’. That being so we humble customers should accept that the Banks have been excused from the general need for economies and concentrate on our cricket.

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                                                        WHY NOT BUT THE LOT?

Liverpool were humiliated by the Sheik-led Manchester City last night. Small wonder since one of the richest men in the universe is happy to buy the best players. Given that backing I think I could manage a championship win.

But why not make it easier still. To buy the whole Premiership would be no great financial strain and just thnk how easy finishing top would then become!

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                                                        A LATE COMMENT.

Have just heard the good news of the Cameron’s new baby girl. Sorry that your holiday was so rudely interrupted David. Your decision to holiday in the UK hs been vindicated!

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YESTERDAY’S QUIZ ANSWERS;   1. Eritrean Liberation Front     2.  Portugal

TODAY’S QUESTIONS:   1.Who sang Bright Eyes in 1979?  2. In which TV show did Maureen Lipman play an agony aunt?

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Today’s