One of the areas that could free some cash, curb costs and improve working in the civil service and quangos is the property estate.
Now that many officials wish to work from home for much of the week, there could be less office space with hot desking. Now that government and Unions are firmly committed to improved insulation and reduced heating and air conditioning bills in offices there needs to be more modern space. As many officials dislike travelling into large city centres, especially London, given the inconvenience and cost the government needs more modern office space away from these high cost locations.
The government should keep the heritage buildings like Downing Street, the Foreign Office and Treasury. The rest of the central London estate should be reviewed with plans to move early to replace them or to do so as leases expire. Rents are much lower as little as 20 miles out of London. There are better modern offices with lower fuel bills, higher standards of accommodation and better working space for people available at much lower rents.
If the government is serious about net zero it has to show by example how a major reform of its offices estate could both lower carbon emissions and cut taxpayer bills.
July 2, 2023
Good morning.
You do not even have to rent, you can hire on a daily or hourly basis. Such services can be open and due to competition reasonably priced.
With homeworking there has to be greater self discipline and closer monitoring in order to maintain performance and standards. Connectivity can be difficult but by no means impossible. But we must remember that not all positions can be done remotely and there needs to be a ‘central office’ although this can be smaller.
As someone who worked for the company (BDG McColl) that brought ‘hot-desking’ into the UK from the USA and experienced it at first hand in the mid to late 90’s I can say that it is not for everyone. Some departments such as Personnel Departments and IT need to be fixed as these are ‘go-to’ people / resources.
We are seeing a massive change in the way we work and technology, especially in software (Zoom and MS Teams) are allowing this along with hardware such as more powerful PC’s and faster broadband and Data Centres.
July 2, 2023
There were adverts on The Tube encouraging firms to relocate from London in the 1960s and 1970s. I believe there was some sort of government bureau set up to facilitate this.
Civil servants have already been relocated from London. So it is not a new idea.
There are sizeable costs involved in relocation, such as grants for buying and selling houses to employees who move with the job. It is not all immediate savings.
The main problem is a bloated state sector with too many employees. Cheaper office accommodation is not really addressing the main issue.
July 2, 2023
And let’s not forget that wherever the Civil Servants work they get paid the same amount thus driving up employment costs in the area.
July 2, 2023
N S
Agreed why are State Employees not paid the normal Regional rate.
Why are they still getting the bonus of the London weighting Allowance if they are not working in London any more.
In the private sector if the Company want to move, you simply give employees the option of continuing under new terms, if you wish to retain them, or simply pay them a standard redundancy rate, simples.
Agree little need for high cost, white elephant, status buildings for most of the work.
July 2, 2023
I didnât read it like that Peter. People are mainly working from their home bases so no need to relocate any of them. If they only do 2/5 of the week in the office then 3/5 of the office space could be lost by sharing desks when people do go into the office on a more co-ordinated basis and not just Tuesday and Wednesday.
July 2, 2023
Margaret Thatcher had this initiative in the 1980s and it was highly successful. It brought high-paid jobs to the North West of England. However, this was all undone by George Osborne and his Powerhouse of the North policy. See my post below if it gets published.
July 2, 2023
Here is what the great and the good were saying in 1963:-
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1963/apr/03/location-of-offices-bureau-order-1963
I note that the bureau set up was to be manned by civil service. So yet more jobs for civil servants.
Despite all this, the lure of our great capital city continues.
July 2, 2023
The civil service….. Administrators creating administration for other administrators to administrate.
July 2, 2023
After a while, the novelty of working in London wears off unless you love what you do.
July 2, 2023
IT no longer needs to be fixed except when the hardware goes wrong and that only requires skeleton staff on site.
IT can be outsourced to India or South Africa at a fraction of the cost.
Personnel is driving the remote working boon as they don’t want to come in themselves.
July 2, 2023
NS, this is the big risk that British home workers arenât considering, if they can be replaced by anyone in the world what makes them think it wonât all go to the lowest cost?
Iâve always thought evening and nighttime online services could be done by other countries in different time zones in their day time.
I do wonder why Ai doesnât do more in government, eg. Police checks on past records, why does it take over three days. You used to go into a police station and get a dbs check in a matter of minutes when it was called a PNC certificate? Who has put the delay in and why?
July 4, 2023
This is a normal computing search system, not AI which is where the computer designs and programs itself.
July 2, 2023
Many have tried. Most have brought it back after a few years of problems.
July 2, 2023
Customer service maybe but not IT Mike.
July 2, 2023
‘Zoom’ with security flaws and links to Red China should not be adopted by Government departments or agencies. Why can’t our own GCHQ devise such a programme for exclusive use in this country, I wonder?
July 2, 2023
@Mark B What comes to mind is those workers on the assembly lines in what little manufacturing there is, the train and bus driver all working from home. So as to create an equal society.
But I do get WFH works extreamly well for a lot of administrators and some other sectors. The problem is the quality of the management running these teams.
July 2, 2023
Excellent suggestion. The Kingâs concept of âdownsizingâ the establishment should be taken to heart. The whole Crown Estate should be reviewed with the Kingâs consent. Prince William, determined to conquer all homelessness within 5 years, should be free to provide the many thousand of properties controlled by the RF to veterans and homeless or badly housed British people.
The concept should be applied to Councils too.
Itâs the Green Solution!
July 2, 2023
This âkingâ of which you speak, is there something special about him?
July 4, 2023
Yes, he is overtly socialist and woke. He therefore has to walk the walk and take the blame. His choice.
We need a Constitutional Court to do the job he is supposed to do with us control all politicians by asserting the Constitution.
July 2, 2023
Well they could save money and be more efficient almost everywhere one cared to look, but almost no one in government or the civil service is very interested in saving money quite the reverse.
âIf the government were serious about net zeroâ well clearly they are not. It is just a ruse for more taxation and controls. If they were they would ban all private jets and helicopters (other than for emergencies) and flight that were not virtually full, ban first and business class travel too (as far more CO2 per passenger mile), ban EV cars as keeping your old car saves far more CO2 than building a new EV and battery, burn coal not wood at Drax, ban Gyms (lots of human food energy used to get nowhere), chop ancient trees down and replace with new smaller & still growing trees, frack for gas rather than importing it on ships, ban rockets other than for earth satellites, barbecues, marathons, meat, cycle racesâŠ.
July 2, 2023
@Lifelogic +1
Its not about work, productivity or supplying a result its about building empires for personal self gratification. Look at the Conservative Government for the fault line, they are employed and empowered to create a strong, resilient, self reliant economy and Country. The simply and flatly refuse to âmanageâ any entity that they hand our taxpayer money to. So why should anyone anywhere not just take their lead, destruction is easier than building
July 2, 2023
Don’t forget billionaire tourism activities to space.
July 2, 2023
I agree. Sir John often fails to realise that the government is not interested in saving and economies.
July 2, 2023
My Son works for the DWP in London. Last December, his office at Stratford was closed, together with an office at Hackney.
Both lots of employees were transferred to an office at Gants Hill, Ilford. It is an old building, shared with others (there is a College there). This has resulted in a longer commute – an overground train, and 2 tube rides.
There has been a push to get Government employees out of London for a few years now. The office at Stratford was supposed to have been closed 5 years ago, but was given a reprieve, for some reason.
July 2, 2023
Long commutes are a problem expensive in time and money often unreliable and unpleasant. also expensive to move with very high stamp duty rates or breaking tenancy agreements. Make working less attractive for many. Often better off on benefits and a bit of âbarteringâ or illegal cash in hand as so many do. Or they just work part time.
July 2, 2023
When I was a CS before and during the Cameron years the office (which had a car park) in one Surrey town was scrapped and we were moved to another Surrey town. Only a few car parking spaces were available and staff were required to complete at least the last leg of their journey on public transport, with a few exceptions for those with a disability or other medical justification.
People’s journeys became not just longer but very difficult – so many experienced CS resigned or took early retirement just before the move. Many others, including me, left within a year. They lost older, experienced staff and recruited young, inexperienced ones. One of the unspoken benefits for the Government was that many of the staff they lost were on the older, far more generous pension scheme and the new younger ones weren’t. But the standard of service we were giving the public plummeted. My final year there was incredibly dispiriting.
July 2, 2023
Sorry to hear this, Donna
This is a perfect example of getting what is called, “The Life Triangle” (I think that it was called ?) wrong.
You have three main things in your life. Home. Family & friends / Social life. And work. If you plot those three on a map you create a triangle and, the small the triangle the better the quality of life you are suppose to have.
Get it wrong and you end up with unhappy people who will try and resolve it usually by getting rid of one of them, usually work.
July 2, 2023
CG I do wonder how housing is allocated in London, if someone is given a housing benefit property in London and after two-three years hasnât found a job to support themselves then why keep them in the most expensive living area?
July 2, 2023
@Cheshire Girl – Long commutes are compensated with what is termed the ‘London Weighting’ allowance. Where it goes wobbly is that some WFH and still get the compensation, however this Conservative Government is to frightened to do anything about it. As with all these imbalances it is a weak management problem, they seek to be on message but not productive. They take their lead from an equally out of touch with reality weak Conservative Government
July 2, 2023
We still manufacture and sell cars in the UK with 6 litre engines that do 13 to the gallon in cities. Often less as left ticking over when stationary to keep the professional drivers warm or cool.
Good sense as usual from Douglas Murray and Daniel Hannan today:-
The Left now wants the utter abolition of Britain as we know it
Time and time again, this countryâs most innocent pleasures are made grist for the modern grievance mill. Iâve had more than enough.
and
Little by little, our elected politicians are handing over control to faceless bureaucracies
Parliament should take care to guard its supremacy. It must not accelerate the shift in power to bureaucrats.
Alas most âToryâ MPs are joining in with these agendas.
July 2, 2023
And sense from Rod Liddle on the appalling closing of his anther peopleâs banks for what was surely just the crime of holding fairly sensible political views. Views held by about 52% of the public it seems.
July 2, 2023
It is almost impossible to function in society without a bank account. A few black marketeers may do it, but you cannot base an economy on that. Banks must not be permitted to close accounts with out a full explanation, which should include abusing it, using it illegally etc. Closing accounts for political views must not be tolerated and Banks which act all together so as to not give a person an account as with Farage must be prosecuted for operating a cartel.
July 2, 2023
Rolls Royce, the only serious culprit accused of building 6 litre IC-engined cars in the UK, is planning to switch to only producing electric cars from 2030 so that perceived problem will have gone away by then.
Their cars are not really a problem anyway. They are often used relatively little and are all petrol powered rather than diesel, so produce modest emissions.
Their cars also last a very long time. My own Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn was built in 1955 and is still going strong. It’s currently in having its second bare-metal repaint in its 68 year life so, unlike all those useless EVs, it will still be looking perfect and running like clockwork when the last oil well is closed down (if that ever actually happens).
That is real sustainability.
July 2, 2023
LL.
The reality of your penultimate paragraph is that the civil service were the power all the time we were in the EU. They were the ones that created law, law that our government refuses to remove. MPs ceased to legislate in this dark age, they were at best nodding donkeys. Now the scribes are irate that they have lost control, and current MPs are incapable of control so anarchy prevails, witness bank behaviour and all the protesting we are expected to tolerate. We are on a slope to hell in a handcart.
July 2, 2023
But, have you not said before that you donât live here?
July 2, 2023
No it would cost me about ÂŁ2m PA plus IHT issue on top, so I shall stick to 90 nights in the UK thanks.
July 2, 2023
Our politicians don’t seem to realise that giving away our sovereignty bit by bit will eventually put them out of work, as the supranationals take over. The current ones will probably keep their jobs and who cares about future ‘politicians’ (who will be mere box tickers)? The ones responsible should all be sacked and possibly imprisoned. It is grossly undemocratic. Have they learned nothing from our EU years? Eventually the people will vote against them.
July 2, 2023
Sensible cost efficiency on the use of Govt buildings would be welcome, yet it is of relatively low importance in relation to what Govt should act upon urgently. Their first priority should be to stop doing so many bad things. Reversing those would make so much difference and be widely appreciated. Lifelogic has a fine list, and others will have many to add.
Office and other work space is a consequence of employment anyway. If Govt is going to remedy that, their first task should be to end the large number of negative needless and worthless jobs so many public employees are paid to do at our enormous expense.
July 2, 2023
Removing the black paint covering the Victorian soot stuck on 10 Downing Street would be a clear improvement and enhance its image. The original London Brick should be a gleaming yellow for the world to see, representing a clean government. In its present state it looks like a dirty cover up. Would somebody please do something to cleanse the conspicuous mess around that one of the most famous doors in the world.
July 2, 2023
Strange itâs never been done. When I worked in London in the 70s and 80s scaffolds going up and buildings being pressure washed to get the grime of the coal burning era (prior to Clean Air Act – 1956 if memory serves) was commonplace. Weird No. 10 didnât get done. Probably listed so they canât touch it maybe?
July 2, 2023
@Bloke Agreed it used to be a good looking building
July 2, 2023
Tories face biggest by-election defeat in British history in Nadine Dorries seat a survey by Opinium finds Labour would overturn a 24,664 Conservative majority in Mid Bedfordshire, held by the Tories since 1931.
Well done tax to death, currency debaser, net zero zealot and Socialists Sunak & Hunt. Will they achieve any of Sunakâs 5 pledges? Looks rather unlikely.
July 2, 2023
This is needed. The great reset is needed so the Tory’s can realise there is no place for another left of centre party. The Two of Liberals and Labour are more than enough. The Tory brand is now toxic and all former voters no longer believes a word it says or pledges. Reduce immigration, not raise taxes, pc/wokery everywhere without challenge etc etc etc. No party represents the English people, its beliefs, values or heritage. Hello REFORM.
p.s. Sir John, this is YOUR GOVERNMENT. OWN IT. Don’t write in the abstract.
Reply I am not a member of the government. As a backbench Conservative MP I seek to get the government to follow the course the party set out in the 2019 Manifesto, as amended by my personal Manifesto to Wokingham
July 2, 2023
@Lifelogic – the problem is Nadine Dorries made a big song and dance about quitting, then since has refused unlike others that joined the chorus.
Unfortunately seeing how the Conservative Party is refusing the UK a Conservative Government, the rot will continue until they have cleansed the very notion of Conservatism from the nation. People forget it is the Conservative Party that puts up candidates in election, it is then the Conservative Party that chooses who the leader(PM) is. The rot is so embedded at the top that it has to be cleansed from the bottom, meaning some real Conservatives will be sacrificed to aid vanity self gratification of a few extreme left wing zealots.
July 2, 2023
LL
They arenât bothered, their livelihoods donât depend on it
July 2, 2023
I shouldnât think that travelling into one of our big city centres is particularly safe any more.
WellâŠand who has brought that about?
The work isnât getting done from home.
I bet that the âboat backlogâ is largely due to âWORKINGâ from home.
Why does the govt. think people were dragged from their spinning/weaving homes into factories? To up productivity of course!
Still, never mind, it all fits into the 2030 Agenda very snugly.
July 2, 2023
Is the HMRC backlog also due to working from home?
Those incompetents messed up my tax calculation last year. I wrote to them once and got a reply that indicated they didn’t have a clue how to do their job. My second letter hasn’t been replied to, except for a couple of texts to say they were experiencing delays. They don’t even do that now.
They make more work for themselves because they don’t start out doing their job properly. They then discover they don’t have the time to make corrections.
Can I get a court order to authorise I work out my own tax and HMRC have to accept it?
July 2, 2023
Dave Andrew’s
It is not only the CS.
I have had a long running battle with one of the so called national optical outlets. Despite Letters to their CEO and follow up letters and phone calls from the groups Customer Care Manager promising they are dealing with it and telling the director of their franchise to sort it out and nothing happens. They wouldn’t recognise Customer Service Excellence if they took a smack in the face with a dead kipper. All they care about is pushing the tests through and selling glasses. It is a disease that is consuming this country, no wonder we Import everything and its someone else to blame if there are problems
July 2, 2023
Absolute disgrace.
They take money with menaces but donât even make the process easy.
From personal bitter experience I would sayâŠ
Set aside a couple of days or more and determine to phone them.
Just persevere ( on and onâŠ)
EventuallyâŠsometimes you find a gem who can sort out the whole mess.
If you can present them with your own calculations that helps.
The very best of luck!
July 2, 2023
Stockholm syndrome is now endemic across the Tory party and that spells disaster for freedom, liberty and limiting the power of the now Socialist State and its ability to take what it wants to finance its activities and curbing its power
Today’s article is mere tinkering at the edges and a sop to the Left. The Tory party is captured from top to bottom by the Left, they know it and therefore their entire output is framed in leftist framework designed not to trigger a war
As an aside. Having access to a bank account must be made a legal and human right and embedded in law. Without access to banking services we are in effect dehumanised and turned into nothingness. Will our esteemed host raise this most fundamental of all issues in the Commons and demand the Government pass new legislation to protect decent people from the woke virus that is tearing our freedoms to shreds?
July 2, 2023
Unless I’ve missed it, there’s been NOTHING from the government about Nigel Farage and the banks!
He’s not the only one either, but so far is the most known person!
I agree, Dom! It must be made a human right, a legal requirement not to close bank accounts for political reasons.
Reply The government has just legislated on Politically Exposed persons and banks!
July 2, 2023
You should only be denied a personal account if you are incarcerated or on the run. Denial of a business account should be contingent on a written justification which can if necessary be contested in court. We have to decide whether to ‘restrict’ the rights of businesses (the banks) in this manner or reintroduce the State bank as a banker of last resort. In a country which won’t deport torturers because they might be tortured it is intolerable that individuals and their families can be driven out by a Star Chamber because of their non-conformist views. Or perhaps we should look at Politically Exposed Businesses who are liable to bribery and corruption because of their ability to be weaponised against inconvenient individuals.
July 2, 2023
Reply to reply. Yes, your government has indeed legislated (in 2022) on banks and Politically Exposed Persons. The HoC briefing on this (p. 12) says that banks should assess the risk that such a person receives funding from dubious sources, e.g. ‘laundering the proceeds of corruption’. If it chooses, the bank can then ‘refuse or terminate the business relationship’. It’s precisely your government’s legislation that has enabled and encouraged banks to refuse a bank account to a UK politician.
July 3, 2023
Well nearly all political parties receive money from dubious sources, as we see with the cash for honours, supporters of just stop oil, look at the correlation between members of the Lords and political donations.
July 2, 2023
Reply to reply
And ?
There has to be due process. Innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.
What next ?!?!?!
July 2, 2023
Sharon : âUnless Iâve missed it, thereâs been NOTHING from the government about Nigel Farage and the banks!â
Those running the Conservative Party (another oxymoron like the âDepartment of Energy Security & Net Zeroâ) are clearly feeling very vulnerable and have taken on the communist undemocratic practice of shutting down/cancelling potential political opponents.
Reply Financial Services legislation differentiating between UK PEPs and others.
July 2, 2023
Reply to reply: if PEP’s can be denied an account without proof of wrongdoing, then why does any MP have an account? It is wide open to abuse, from BOTH sides and all political colours. Maybe, if all Tories were denied accounts without proof, then something would be done. Is it only those on the non-woke right who are being ‘persecuted’? Nobody has accused Farage outside of Parliamentary privilege so that alone tells you the accusers don’t really believe it themselve else it would be headline news.
What is the new legislation about? Does it allow denying bank accounts without proof, or not?
July 2, 2023
Reply to reply-what about non-Politically exposed persons? As compensation for “gifting” my wife funds from our joint account, a well-known investment platform, after 20 years with them, sent her a 35 page questionnaire as to where this “wealth” (a five figure sum) had come from. The threat was, tell us or we close your account and halt transactions. They needn’t have worried. Within 2 weeks the account was closed and funds transferred out by us.
July 2, 2023
SJS
It is where Money Laundering regulations have now morphed into something else entirely, due to mission creep, they do it simply because they can, guilty until you prove yourself innocent sadly appears to now be a very common phenominom in so many areas of life now.
July 2, 2023
+many, DOM. HR legislation is designed to help criminals, instead of protecting innocents. If you want proof just look at what ‘refugees’ can get away with in exchange for a hand slap. The victims don’t count, and this all started with the ‘grooming’ gangs. We are just cash cows and cannon fodder for the non-Brits.
July 2, 2023
There are no refugees, just economic illegal immigrants that the Government wants. They could remove them tomorrow and in vast numbers. They choose not too. All we hear and see is where they are going to house/accommodate them, not remove. There was talk at one point about foreign aid for returns but this left wing Government just likes giving the 46% taxes away, for nothing. I read this week that they’re still giving away my taxes in ÂŁ500 lots as “cost of living” payments to welfare recipient’s. Here’s a clue to educe Government waste and spending. STOP IT. WE CAN’T AFFORD IT. LIVE WITHIN THE 46% MEANS. They won’t even vote for you, but then again, neither will we the right of centre.
July 2, 2023
+1 DOM. Interestingly the EU has a rule that a very basic form of free-to-use, no-frills bank account must be available to citizens. It was framed to ensure the very poor could get accounts (partly also , no doubt, in order to make sure they paid taxes and were “in the system) but I guess it would make it difficult for a bank in the EU to blacklist someone for political reasons.
July 2, 2023
I’ve emailed my (useless) CON MP about the “banking cancellation” of people in response to their social and/or political opinions.
We must all do the same. Bombard them with emails.
July 2, 2023
DONNA – Did you get a reply from your career politician? I thought so.
July 3, 2023
Not yet. To be fair, he usually does reply to emails – but he generally toes the Government line and the content of the reply is often just a cut and paste job
July 2, 2023
Indeed it seems the bank largely belongs to the Gov. or tax payers
July 2, 2023
DOM
A look through Twitter this morning tells me that people having their bank a/c’s closed is becoming common. That means most of us contributors to this blog are at risk!
July 3, 2023
Indeed anyone with sensible political views is at risk. Has Sunak or Hunt said anything sensible on bank cancellations? I have not heard anything from them.
Reply We learn they have asked Minister Griffiths who put through the new legislation to follow up.
July 2, 2023
The first question surely has to be do we really need all these civil servants, quangos and NGOs?
Whatever happened to a bonfire of quangos idea promised all those years ago?
First sort out the staff numbers then arrange for suitable sized cheaper accomodation ideally outside any city weighting areas.
July 2, 2023
Article on the news yesterday about clip-board carriers going up and down hospital corridors. Nobody with a clinical job knew what they did. When Covid came they all disappeared and no one missed them. So whatever they were doing, it didn’t matter when they weren’t doing it.
July 2, 2023
Nothing happened. No politician has the backbone to get rid of âThe Quality of New Potatoes Commissionâ and the thousands of other nonsensical bolleaux that cost us a fortune.
July 2, 2023
But recall, whenever Sir John asks us here to name quangos we wish to see abolished, answers come there none, just a lot of huffing and puffing about bonfires being overdue, rates of pay being too high, numbers being too many.
July 2, 2023
Working from home is very stressful.
Especially in such a noisy, out of control country.
It might be ok to dream of a nice peaceful little home office but the reality ( except for the rich possibly) is barking dogs, loud music, DIY and shrieking.
July 2, 2023
I tried working from home when I first started my own business. It didn’t work. I couldn’t ‘educate’ my family and friends that work hours meant no socialising, even though I was home and hubby thought I could do the shopping, cook, clean, wash, iron, etc. and everything else ‘while at home’. A dedicated office was a necessity for me, also many councils don’t allow work from home if you have clients coming and going.
July 2, 2023
Similar experience here.
And I always remember an architect I once knew, working from home years ago when it was really unusual.
He was driven nearly mad by a constantly yapping dog and yelling kids and the sound of a bouncing ball.
July 2, 2023
Culbono
Agreed, only a minority of people work efficiently from home and enjoy it, and you certainly need a dedicated space for such work.
Most people miss the social interaction of group working, and the cross fertilisation of ideas, problem solving, and simply keeping up to date with what is going on, etc, etc
Some may thrive, but the majority fail as time will prove.
July 2, 2023
Iâm not entirely certain whether the article is actually in favour of further abandonment of London.
But it is quite shocking how governments ( since TB) have destroyed our capital city.
And now they want to scuttle out.
Are they watching the footage of Paris?
July 2, 2023
Cuibono
It seems that the rioting has now spread to Belgium. Where next. Netherlands? UK?
July 2, 2023
The whole of Europe?
Obviously what they wanted since they have done nothing to prevent it!
July 2, 2023
The French like the British Governments are reaping what they sowed against the wishes of their indigenous peoples.
July 2, 2023
Or they are getting exactly the chaos they wanted?
July 2, 2023
Thought this was the plan. Or is this another case of one rule for the establishment differing to the rule for the people. Our politicians need to start leading by example & regularly publish the savings made in the media
July 2, 2023
JR Tweet
If we want more trees the govt. needs to use its nudging skills to reverse the general fear and hatred of them.
Councils are horrified by arboreal insurance claims and chop at the slightest excuse.
And many householders are appalled by falling leaves, shading branches and basically anything that is natural and good.
July 2, 2023
The front paths and driveways of houses in my road are being lifted by the roots of the enormous trees lining the footpath. I observe that the council have tarmaced all the way to the trunk of the trees, and wonder how they imagine the tree is supposed to obtain water. As more people convert their front gardens into car ports the situation gets worse.
July 2, 2023
I canât imagine why councils ever allowed the paving over of front gardens.
To allow 4 cars per household and to now ban all cars!!
July 3, 2023
EV cars need to be plugged it somewhere!
July 2, 2023
A chance for joined-up policy by converting the rest of the central London estate to four star hotels to accommodate bogus asylum seekers the Government cannot turn away.
July 2, 2023
Government âcannotâ no âchooses not toâ turn back.
July 2, 2023
YesâŠno doubt about it.
The govt. has its eye on emulating Paris!
July 2, 2023
I thought the WEF et al wanted everyone ultimately to be living in smart cities by 2050?
July 3, 2023
Seems so.
July 2, 2023
Really Sir John?
Let’s take the DVLA. I have been waiting since early last December to hear from them about a driving assessment for myself, but they were working from home! A few weeks ago I forwarded them a letter from my neurologist in support of my application, but now they are on strike for six weeks.
The owner of a vehicle repair workshop in the village has been waiting for months for certain vehicle documentation.
P45’s all round an start from scratch with a privatised DVLA.
July 2, 2023
The DVLA should be making vast profits. It must have invested heavily in technology to instantly produce an answer as to whether a vehicle is compliant with the London ULEZ and the same must apply to other cities with a similar scheme as well as giving details to private companies on parking ‘infringements’.
How much does it charge for these services and if it is subsidised by general taxation why should an inhabitant of say Cornwall or Cumbria pay for a service that is used profitably by a mayor in London?
July 2, 2023
This is deliberate. Notice that pot holes ALL OVER THE COUNTRY are no being filled in. Notice the ever growing restrictions – ULEZ, CCZ, CPZ, LTN’s etc. Notice that there is not the infrastructure for enough EV’s to go around. It is all part of the plan to force us off the roads.
July 2, 2023
Mark B
Just returned from a holiday in the West Country, and yes agree potholes everywhere, not just potholes though, huge strips of tarmac missing only to expose a good tarmac surface underneath, proof if any was required that the so called resurfacing has been done badly, or the materials are of inferior quality.
Have asked the question before, but are road works guaranteed for any length of period SJR, if not why not ?
July 2, 2023
How many large ‘refugee’ families are living in mansions in London worth milllions? Is the government obliged to offer residence in London? The vast majority of the population couldn’t afford London prices so why should they subsidise others who cannot afford to live in London but have massive properties served on a plate? Can they buy theses properties discounted by millions under ‘right to buy’?
July 2, 2023
A good point and many of them will be living in rented accommodation where the landlord is also turning a profit (quite rightly) at taxpayer’s expense.
Dormitory’s all round me thinks.
July 2, 2023
Interesting. I understand there has been a drive to get civil servants back from home to their offices. Having been one who for long periods of time needed to work uninterrupted on spreadsheets, project plans, analyses of organisational change issues, competitor analyses etc etc I have never agreed with the mantra that working from home per se reduces productivity and that all employees must always be in the office working face to face with their computers. Office space is a very expensive overhead and I would expect its use to be closely monitored to ensure a profital gain from its ownership or rent. And knowing the wastefulness of the Government’s property estate I have long suspected that the drive to get civil servants back to their desks has little to do with their productivity but is principally in order to avoid exposure of the vast acres of government owned or leased but under utilised office space.
Private companies understood this long before Covid and many had already adopted hybrid working, hot desking etc. Where employees and contractors do their work is amatter to be decided between them and their employrers and clients respectively. The approach to the public sector property estate should be the same.
Some working from home is more productive than working in the office. Some office working is more productive than working at home. As an employer the Government should use both to improve the productivity of employees and also to minimise the cost of expensive office space.
July 2, 2023
In your last paragraph the emphasis on home and office working is SOME. Homeworkers tend to forget that only some work is more productive at home
July 2, 2023
I remember my employer downsizing their central London office some 20 years ago. I (and others) regularly used it to meet London based clients because they often didn’t have the time (or inclination) to come to our much larger site 30 miles outside the City. I remember that the ‘hotdesks’ were often fully occuppied by colleagues with several meetings that day and that late arrivals found themselves sitting on corridor floors catching up on email. I guess these days with mobile data and wifi hotspots they would just find a nice pub or cafe to work in?
July 2, 2023
Why not move all the ministries in none heritage sites to the North of England for a much better quality of life. The scribes that don’t like the idea can join the private sector, there being no shortage of potholes to fill.
Still waiting to hear what you intend doing about banks with cancellation tendencies. They are there to manage money, something they are only good at for their own benefit, not to make political judgements on their customers.
July 2, 2023
Increase productivity?
Try stop paying out ÂŁ1.5 billion of taxpayers money to government departments and private organisation that are openly supporting the stop the Rwanda flights programme.
There must be more than an element of checks and balances which needs hands on attention that equals staff and offices and equipment.
July 2, 2023
Article in the paper today:
“Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayersâ money has been handed to organisations fighting plans to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda.
New analysis shows the Government gave nearly ÂŁ1.5billion to groups opposing its efforts to end the small boat crossings.”
Why are we giving taxpayers money to these organisations? The charity industry really needs investigating and reforming.
July 2, 2023
Christine – How about money laundering!! Having worked and lived in West Africa many years ago and seen the extent of corruption, I thought England was incorruptible. Not any more. It is rife.
July 2, 2023
@turboterrier – Its strange if a UK citizen abroad in another country commits a criminal act in that country. The UK embassy will ensure legal representation is provided at cost to that individual. If a foreign criminal enters the UK (merely entering without papers is criminal) it is not their home country that gets involved but the UK taxpayer. Some say they are fleeing oppression (just as a UK citizen leaving the UK is). But the EU the Country they are fleeing from is said to be Utopia.
July 2, 2023
Same as providing them with legal aid. Try getting that for any purpose if you are an English taxpayer.
July 2, 2023
In a nutshell the government is too big, too expensive and too intrusive. There should be a huge downsizing of the public sector and an embargo on further recruitment other than to front line services. Then sell off the buildings and leases to the highest bidders.
July 2, 2023
@James1 +1 Exactly
July 2, 2023
It isn’t a question of how much office space. The best solution is to shrink the size of the civil service and only do jobs that cannot be done by the private sector. We could then more than halve the number of expensive civil servants with their gold plated pension schemes, and do away with countless thousands of sq ft of office space.
Of course, diversity posts should be the very first to go.
July 2, 2023
@ChrisS – that suggestion looks like a Tory promise when they stood to get elected some 13 years ago, just like the bonfire of the quangos. Instead they have grown the State exponentially, it would appear it is because those they are supposed to manage, dont, and they did what the âBlobâ told them to do. Then you have to factor in a lot of it is jobs-for-the-boys that can’t gainfully find employment elsewhere.
These are all things that wouldnât happen if we had a working Parliament and a functioning democracy. Blair/Brown showed the way to destruction then the Conservative Government took up the baton and has been leading the charge of a WEF Socialist State and the âGreat Resetâ
We need a new âMagna Carterâ and the rebalancing to return to being a functioning Democracy.
July 2, 2023
There are benefits and negatives to working from home. Obviously commuting time and costs are eliminated, but it is very likely that productivity will decline. If you have a laptop job, it is very easy to be distracted at home and not devote yourself to the job you are supposed to be delivering. In my experience, some Civil Servants (including more senior ones), are not as devoted to delivering the job as they should be đ And it is virtually impossible to deal with someone who is under-performing.
As far as office space is concerned, rather than re-locating central London offices to one out-of-London location, it would be better to have smaller offices in various locations – creating a hub – so that people can get to the one nearest them since travel across country when you are outside the M25 is so difficult.
Sir John: I am interested to know what the Not-a-Conservative-Party is going to do about Banks “cancelling people” whose social and/or political views they don’t like? Or are these Banks acting on behalf of the Establishment/Government – which is certainly what it looks like in the case of Nigel Farage?
We’re watching.
Reply It has just legislated!
July 2, 2023
“It has just legislated.”
Good to know. My eye must have been off the ball for a period.
So when does it come into action … and must a bank be required to re-instate any accounts it has closed for free-speech/social/political reasons?
July 2, 2023
Donna
You are right, you have to have good discipline and a strong work ethic. You also have to overcome distractions, as cuibono points out above.
Not easy but it can be done.
July 2, 2023
@ Reply – could you please point to the legislation? All I can find googling is the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 that does not seem pertinent and in any case relies upon the regulation 35 definition of politically exposed person that I interpret as excluding the likes of Mr. Farage.
July 2, 2023
Reply to reply.
That’s the second time you’ve said that. For those of us who cannot spend endless hours researching, could you please tell us in a few words what has just been legislated? Does that mean that Farage and others can now go back to their bank and quote legislation to stop them doing it? Thank you.
July 3, 2023
I agree, it is very surprsing that there has not been the actual name of the new law(s) or statutory regulation(s). Is it part of the so-called Edinburgh Reforms outlined by the Chancellor and Andrew Griffith on 9 December 2022.
http://www.gov.uk âFinancial services: The Edinburgh Reformsâ, 09/12/2022.
July 2, 2023
Reply to Reply ,
Can Nigel breathe easy now? Does he know this?
Has his bank now apologised and re-instated?
Does everyone know that the banks can no longer treat its customers as political renegades and render them non-persons?
Can I trust that I am safe from such arbitrary discrimination?
Does the legislation protect us all?
Clearly you, Sir john, are party to valuable information which would calm the nerves of many (all?) of your readership.
A Yorkshire building society states that discrimination is a main reason for cancelling accounts. Does it not consider that its customers discriminated in its favour when they chose to open the account in the first place?
July 2, 2023
As soon as there is not enough space for Civil Servants to not to go, they will start to demand that they are compensated for the space at home as they are “saving” money by working from home. The London weighting will be supplemented by a home office allowance.
Just make them attend the workplace, and reduce the headcount.
July 2, 2023
To be fair, one of my sons regularly works from home for a large company in the private sector. His company pays an allowance for the increased energy costs he will incur, which I guess is being offset against the costs they incur in the office.
July 2, 2023
What about cutting Devolution Police Commissioners, Mayors ?
Would be better, cheaper to build smaller units/Regions (Not country based) from the Devolution we have, and break them up, and base selection of the members of local councillors that make up the now smaller units?
This would be far more responsive to the actual needs of the Regions/Units.
July 2, 2023
Two things I noted from you Diary today
1.The state owns enough land & estate that you should never need to rent
2.You donât need to pursue estate low carbon dreams unless you believe the UN IPCC report on climate change (global warming)
âŠThe BBC weather report stated yesterday that June could be the hottest ever on record; so why did I have to put on a jersey
July 2, 2023
O/t When are we going to get a referendum on Net Zero?
July 2, 2023
We need one
July 2, 2023
Just found this….SirJs diary is government policy
The new Government Property Strategy, which has been published today (31 August 2022). As part of the plans, the government will sell ÂŁ1.5 billion of property assets over the next three years as projects such as the Government Hubs programme sees government staff consolidated into fewer buildings.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-commits-to-further-2-billion-of-property-savings
Reply Partly. I am arguing for a bigger programme with more changes as identified in my blog.
July 2, 2023
LOL . This idea won’t work because you suggested it, SJ.
July 2, 2023
Every day there are so many effective ideas that Sir John puts forward . Why is it that those in control do not pay attention to them ?. We desperately need change in the way the country is directed and there is little evidence – if any , that Sunak can achieve anything in the time the Conservatives have before the next election . As an ordinary voter I feel powerless and disgusted at our state of affairs .
July 2, 2023
Time to get real, the Civil Service and the Quangos could be reduced by 50% and no one would notice. Get rid of all the Discrimination Departments and return to ensuring the best of the best is in post and productivity would go up overnight.
Its all a bit weird I actually want to pay my Tax Bill(ahead of time), but it needs human intervention of a human to human contact, but there is no one in post to answer the phone. According to the Media a couple of weeks back the Revenue has decided not to take calls until the Autumn.
July 2, 2023
âthe government needs more modern office space away from these high cost locations.â
You are joking, right? In Blackpool, the North West town near where I live, the Civil Service used to be the largest employer. The accommodation was the cheapest real estate in the country and the employees were of the highest quality. What did your Government do? Under your Powerhouse of the North policy, George Osborne moved the majority of the jobs to the cities of Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. This contributed to a decline in this area leaving it with the lowest life expectancy in the country. Following the closure over the last decade of most of the Civil Service sites one of the last offices, which employed over 2000 staff, which was purpose-built only 20+ years ago has closed this month to be demolished for yet more housing. It wouldnât surprise me if it wasnât turned into an asylum center, just what this area needs (sarc).
You have to ask who gained from this. I can only think it was his mates who owned the office space in the cities because I canât see how anyone else benefited. It certainly wasnât the taxpayer or the deprived town it left behind.
Your government is an utter disgrace and for you to come up with this idea after the destruction your party has inflicted on my town is a disgrace! You really need to look into this travesty before advocating this so-called initiative and hold your head in shame.
July 2, 2023
Build the Elizabeth Line (or whatever it is called) at a cost of untold billions – then get commuters to work outside London! More joined up thinking from our esteemed politicos.
July 2, 2023
Sounds fine, and creditable when mentioning green issues, but it is putting the cart before the horse.
The real issue is the need to reduce government but when functions and departments have links it is better the places are close, and to use an unpopular idea, centralised.
No doubt we will hear about reducing numbers employed but if that is to be talked about the effects on property will need managing as a result.
Smaller properties spread around takes a lot of managing, they will have differing lease lengths and more physical and admin limitations. Fashions about working should treated as a leaders in decision making.
July 2, 2023
Last para. ‘should not be treated as leaders…’
July 2, 2023
As of March 2023 there were 488,400 civil servants Full Time. I believe some 90,000 were taken on because of the Covid crisis but have never been released.
If the country was run as a business, the management would have cut those extras once their job was done, to ensure the business remained solvent. Sadly, our country is not run in any professional way and consequently we are insolvent.
Our GDP in Sept 2022 was ÂŁ2.445T which is 100.2% of GDP, so we always need to borrow more (if we still can) to cover the deficit, unless we cut the overheads!!!
July 2, 2023
Derek :
Does our GDP include government spending?
I note that the ÂŁ200bn requested by the National Grid to upgrade the grid for Net Zero is not described by them as “spending” but as a “contribution to GDP”?
Reply Yes of course public sector activity is part of GDP. That is why our GDP has been weak since 2019 owing to poor output of NHS and education.
July 4, 2023
OR, the video on tutor2u.net âGovernment spendingâ might be of some benefit to you âŠ
It is aimed at GCSE and A-level students, it should not be too âtaxingâ.
July 2, 2023
Having recently spent time in several hospitals, more patient space is needed to maintain their throughput and productivity. It also impacts patient safety. Numerous examples include not enough beds in A&E means people with infections like flu and Covid are kept in the waiting area alongside those immune-compromised, resulting in more extended hospital stays for those admitted.
They could remove these bottlenecks now by moving back office staff in the hospital to half-empty government offices nearby, making space for more beds, discharge assessment units and isolation areas.
July 3, 2023
But do they want to increase the number of beds? Do they believe in it? Population increased by several million when Osborne cut 13,000 beds in his catastrophic austerity programme, which I believe is at the heart of why we have such poor services at such high cost. Trying to make up shortages (not just NHS always costs more than saved). With his ‘austerity’ all he achieved was to double the national debt. Subsequent Chancellors had no idea how to run the country and have pushed the debt from about 800 billion I think in 2010, to pushing 3 trillion now. Some Tory party.
July 2, 2023
Indeed but the deal should be work remotely on work which can be readily monitored and assessed and compete worldwide, or work from the office in location-critical jobs. You could still free up maybe 50 percent of the estate.
July 2, 2023
Surely it would make sense for the government to concentrate its central London accommodation into buildings that the Crown owns – which presumably includes Downing Street, the Treasury, Foreign Office, MOD Main Building, the Admiralty buildings and so on – rather than paying rent for offices? Instead they seem to be flogging off some of their buildings, such as turning Admiralty Arch into an hotel, and will doubtless then apply the capital receipts therefrom to current expenditure, like the financial illiterates they all seem to be.
July 2, 2023
[…] Boosting public sector productivity â John Redwood […]
July 2, 2023
Hello Sir John,
Sorry but you are missing two key points. The first is we have far too many Civil Servants & Quangos. Both should be dramatically reduced. The second is you say renting offices is cheaper 20 miles plus from London. But buying a property is still cheaper because you have no rent to pay & a slowly appreciating asset. It does not matter how low the rent is, buying is cheaper in the long run.
July 2, 2023
Dear Sir John,
Many years ago I spent a few days in B onn, then federal capital of West Germany and visited several ministries, some grouped as a sort of leafy suburb or campus close to the old city. The unspectacular buildings were, as I recall, mainly four or five story and not too massive. Altogether a very human place to live and work wihout travelling two hours a day.
The intimate, mixed campus model looks a much better model than randomly disgorging bits of departments to places round the country with no connexion or synergy. There are plenty of Bonn-sized cities round England that could be suitable by virtue of good communications, their history or their need of a new role: Doncaster, Northampton or Stoke-on-Trent for instance.
July 2, 2023
AI Artificial intelligence needs to be introduced to the bloated bureaucracy of all Public Sectors as the Digital age seems to have been resisted by these dinosaur remnants of the old days of our colonial Empire.
It is stuck in the past with a determination to resist change. However it is not working for us but rather its members. The Private Sector has been through many changes often annually and experienced the highs and lows of changes in all spheres.
Now the overpaid, arrogant and entitled Civil servants need drastic zero budgeting to justify their very existence please. Taxpayers should expect and demand it.
July 2, 2023
Working from home (where proper work coordination is difficult and proper supervision, especially of hours actually worked is practically impossible) is a far bigger drain on productivity and efficiency than is inefficiency in property management. It would have been better in terms of value for money had the government stopped public officials ‘working from home’ than stopped (as they are doing)South Cambridgeshire employees going on a 4 day week.
Secondly,if one cut back on bureaucracy and unnecessary or inherently inefficient work and accordingly cut back on public sector staff numbers, big savings could also be made on property costs.
That said, I don’t see why offices cannot be moved from expensive central London to much less expensive suburban London provided the office is close to the Underground or rail network, but try convincing staff of that. For example the paid staff of a Society I am a member of when they had to relocate resolutely (for their own convenience) refused to move (even to suburban London) beyond expensive to rent premises in central London.
July 3, 2023
Bringing pensions into line with the private sector, ridding the tax payer the burden of funding defined benefits schemes would save a huge amount of tax payer moneyđ