>> Which party is promising to provide more red tape and bureaucracy then?
>>
>> All politicians trot out the phrase when asked to quantify their spending plans.
Spot on. My entire 35 year career in the Civil Service has been against a background of politicos cutting red tape. Trouble is most of it is there because of need to justify spending or to cover all bases where people's interests conflict eg Planning Permission.
Tools like LEAN can help examine and simplify particular processes from end to end but they don't remove need for balance and propriety.
Sensible schemes to cut costs are promptly undermined to big up individual politicians' careers.
Classic example is the Government Procurement Card. This was meant to simplfy process for high frequency/low value transactions such as stationery and staff travel. Putting invoices in a few tens of pounds through an (outsourced) central payments system at £10 a throw was barking.
Of course it also gets used for other stuff like catering for meetings and one off furniture like specialist chairs for disabled staff. Now inevitably there were a few cases of egregious misuse and plenty more that had, by degrees of misrepresentation, the makings of a press hoo-hah over public servants living high off the hog.
Ministers, who will no longer explain that the misusers have been carpetted/sacked and rationalise the rest instead promise action to 'stop this abuse'. So we go back to centralised procurement.
You couldn't make it up....
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 30 Sep 13 at 12:57
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