Service cuts (From The Northern Echo)
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Service cuts
11:07am Thursday 29th July 2010 in
RE your report about another local authority – North Yorkshire County Council – preparing to axe services because of Government funding reductions (Echo, July 27).
May I remind readers, including those in local government, that over the past decade or so private sector productivity has improved by 30 per cent while public sector productivity has dropped by about three per cent.
There is ample “fat” in local government budgets to absorb reductions of at least 25 per cent without having to reduce the quality or quantity of services.
Councillors should be telling their officers to go back to their organisation charts and spreadsheets and find the “fat”.
Ministers in central government should be saying the same thing to their civil servants.
Lord (Digby) Jones said when he quit the last government that Westminster could provide exactly the same as it does now with half the staff – and I submit the former Confederation of British Industry leader knows what he is talking about.
So, I call on all elected representatives, at all levels, to stop planning to cut services, but to cut costs and improve efficiency first. When they’ve improved public sector productivity to a level even close to that in private business, they can then talk about cutting services – not before.
Derek Thornton, Stanley Crook, Co Durham.
Comments(2)
David Lacey
says...
2:06pm Thu 29 Jul 10
When I was a kid I lived in the Eastbourne area of Darlington (which is not - in spite of its name - the posh end of town). I went to the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School after the 11+ and cycled to school every day across town. I often chose to ride past the old Town Hall which was and still is a lovely building tacked on the end of the covered market. The council was effectively run by the Town Clerk as I remember and we had a Mayor who strutted his/her stuff at events. Most of the functions of the council were delivered from this building which is not much bigger than a detached house (admittedly not one I could afford). Since then the council has grown out of all proportion and in my opinion gets involved in all sorts of things it has no business to be messing around with. The time has come for councils to take a long hard look at themselves and only deliver essential services such as emptying the bins and sweeping the streets. And if these can be contracted out then so much the better.
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Dean M says...
12:53pm Thu 29 Jul 10
By improving efficiency there is a danger that councils will deliver the same services for less money, which is better for everyone (except the council, who have to work harder).
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So they cut services.
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Or maybe I'm being cynical.