Some weeks ago I was asked to support a substantial tax increase for the fire service. Before doing so I asked to see the existing budget and the case for how the extra money would be spent. This was not available at the event I was attending but they promised to send me these documents.
When they did not turn up I reminded a senior Councillor involved with the Fire service. He promised to follow up to get them to me. They still did not arrive. I concluded they had either thought better of their tax rise or did not need MP support.
Yesterday my office told me the Fire service wished to talk to me on the phone about this. I said I would be happy to talk to them about their budget once I had read it. They told my office in that case they would send it to me. It has still not turned up. I wonder why it is so difficult to send it. Presumably the Councillors who back this tax rise were shown it before they agreed.
February 22, 2020
It’s about responsibility, accountability, and not just throwing more money at any given problem. It’s almost as if the art of good management has completely gone these days. The more money any given organisation has alotted to it, the less the managers have to worry themselves about how it’s spent. Regrettably, most of the managers I have seen in recent years couldn’t manage money or indeed people while their posterior faces south!
Broadly, for the UK to be successful, this situation needs to change.
February 24, 2020
Sounds like the thoughts and actions of a typical service which has no competitors, like so many Government and Local Authority services, they take spending money for granted, and assume it will continue, because it has in the past.
I hope they can eventually provide a good and sensible reason for their claim, and that you can support them if it will help improve their performance/service.