Really upsetting that this is not a prioritized topic. Funding / cutting definitions are not helping. Re-engineering processes & putting them in a plan is less costy and smart thing to do. This may end up with job-cuts for sure but if this was a concern, we would still be managing daily banking activities in branches.

Edited by blackheatheagle (26 Oct 2022 4.47pm)

It's the fall back for every government we elect. I was in the Civil Service for 36 years and saw the same old policies recycled 4 times. I remember saying "Do you want us to do it exactly like last time or maybe like the time before?" Same old crap just different faces!

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

I am not sure how much efficiency can be gained from this, and it's going off thread, but this annoys me too, but for a different reason.

My understanding is that schools regularly have to change books not only when the curriculum changes, but when social standards change. Which these days is quite frequently. I have spoken to caretakers who just don't know what to do with the redundant books, often in near perfect condition, which end up being incinerated. What an expensive waste.

I spent some years spending the winters in S E Asia, where many schools were very short of resources, often having a few tattered books to share among a class of 50, with little paper or pens etc.

I collected quite a few boxes full of those unwanted books and sent them out there. Only a token of course, but the joy on lots of little faces when they were distributed was wonderful.

I've often wondered if something like that ought to be more widely organised.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I wish ... cuts meant wage freezes for civil servants. Not just one year but usually for the term of that government. Add to that working for a department that deliberately paid lower salaries as a lead for other govt entities. Oh and they contract you out so that when your state pension arrives its 3/4 of everyone else's. It's a relatively unrewarding financial experience being a public servant in any capacity.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

I would agree that it's often a job loaded with issues, however in some roles it has considerable job security over the private sector.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

In terms of cutting the public sector I can think of one area of fat that only materialised in modern times and has no discernable point to being around other than pleasing the progressive idealogs.

That's the inclusion, diversity and equity jobs that this sector....along with all of the corporate world has been spending considerable money on for about a decade now.

Any law or regulation that incentives it would be abolished and disincentives put in place. PR departments need to go back to what they were originally....instead of being the hotbed of waffle that they expanded into.

The other area I would cut would be governmental quangos, which expanded massively under Tony Blair and were essentially a way of giving jobs to their mates. It's a massive waste and should be cut down to size considerably straight away.

There are many good and vital people who work in the public services and its important services are protected....However, the above industries that grew up around them are nothing but sociopolitical weeds, starving them of money that could and should be used properly. A complete and utter waste of money.

Edited by Stirlingsays (30 Oct 2022 8.40pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)