The main parties and most pundits agree the UK economy has been held back by a poor performance on productivity. Most want productivity up. Most define productivity just as labour productivity, though productive use of capital and materials is also important in achieving high quality affordable output.
So let us begin with labour productivity. The cross party consensusĀ onĀ the need to raise it soon breaks down when you explain that the biggest part of the problem is the collapse of labour productivity in the public sector in the last three years, after a desultory performance from the sector all this century. Labour rush to the barricades and spend much of their time arguing the public services need more staff and more money to deliver. They think the extra Ā£330bn Ā a year this government has decided to spend this Parliament Ā is not enough, instead of asking more questions about where all the money went to and why it is not working better. They have pointed to a few areas in health, defence and railway procurement where they think the government paid too much to the private sector but have never identified waste in the public sector itself.
Let me protect myself from unfair charges by saying I am all in favour of more well qualified teachers and medics to cope with growing demand. My immediate concerns are about the large increase in management and administration staff, and particularly in the large numbers of extra well paid senior managers and the runaway budgets of the profusion of quangos that sit between Ministers and Parliament on the one hand and those providing the medical and schools services on the other.
There isĀ increase in the civil service and in other public administration of some 130,000 people since 2020. Since 2012 the percentage of higher grades (EO and above) has risen from 54% to 72% of the total.Ā Grade 6-7 are up from 7% to 14%. The civil service analysis of the workforce has a large number of charts on sexual orientation, religion and sex but nothing on qualifications and skills. It says 54.5% are women and 45.5% are men. I have no problem with them not complaining about the under representation of men as I am more interested in what they contribute and what their skills are. There are 11 grades inĀ the civil service though we are assuredĀ not all departmental or divisional structures contain all 11 in a reporting line. It nonetheless trends to a top heavy and multi layered approach to working which can be a low productivity model.
I have tried to get Ministers to impose a ban on additional recruitment to the civil service and public administration save where an exceptional case can be made out for the need. I have urged them to rationalise senior positions as people leave. One of the obvious causes of poor productivity is the ever higher ratio of managerialĀ to working level staff. I will be writing more on this topic
December 3, 2023
Good morning.
Here is a curious thing. I was watching on YT, ‘James Burkes, Connections – Faith in Numbers. Here he mentions what led to the fall of the Rome and the Roman Empire. –“The taxes were too high to pay for the army (Ukraine) that was losing all the battles. A bunch of freeloaders in government, of course to pay for thousands of civil serpents. So for the average Roman, better the Barbarian you didn’t know than the tax collector you did.”
All that from a TV show in the 70’s. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
December 3, 2023
++
Thanks!
I used to love those progs. I remember one about Napoleonās army and the development of canned food.
Had no idea they were on YouTube.
December 3, 2023
There has been no difference under Tory govt. over 14 years to the Blare in 1997. Starmer now lauding Thatcher to win votes! Who believes remainer Starmer after Lammy last rant about closer ties to EU! No,no,no. Uni party ripe for scrapping.
December 3, 2023
Mark B
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Wholeheartedly agree! Human nature doesn’t really change…
The Civil Service seems to operate like a private company but is paid for by the public. I really don’t understand why ministers, elected by the public, are unable to fire poor performing employees who are working for the public. It doesn’t make sense to me.
December 3, 2023
Why do you think the Unions are moving for menopause to be an acceptable excuse for short notice time off each month Sharon. Absence rates are so high in lots of departments that it is amazing they function and as they are on full sick pay the burden falls heavily on those many workers who struggle on throughout their personal health problems. Eventually they snap and leave and all theyāre left with in some departments is a bunch of sick notes.
People working in much of the private sector, especially the self-employed and small to medium enterprise workers are paying for much bigger perks for them than we could dream of and weāre being asked for more and more all the time just look at the four day week railway drivers, itās just a joke. Itās going to snap because the generation of Thatchers entrepreneurs will be departing the workforce in the next decade and I donāt see the younger generation replacements for them, do you?
December 3, 2023
+1
The UK tax, regulatory and benefit system is encouraging ever more people to be feckless and to live of others and for the wealthy and hard working to leave. The vicious circle/doom loop cannot continue for much longer.
December 3, 2023
A Tracy
The next generation have already learnt that hard work
Long hours and personal financial risk does not pay,
Years with life style choice and a plethora of benefits with nothing expected in return has destroyed the work ethic and drive that many of the past generations expected and accepted.
December 4, 2023
Alan, one of my children, does long hours, has a work ethic, and takes risks, but their spouse wants them to stop.
December 3, 2023
Blaire politicise civil service, Tories gold plated it! JR constantly fails to accept responsibility for gold plating Blaireās policies instead of radically changing back.85 seat majority shamelessly wasted. Not even Brexit delivered which was why they had 85 seat majority. Mass Immigration policy totally against public wishes!
December 3, 2023
We need a chancellor with a backbone who will stand up in the Spring and say he will henceforth “Balance the Books”, meaning government expenditure shall not exceed tax revenue.
(Stand back and cover your ears from the shrieking)
December 3, 2023
Anyone can say that – and do. But unless they drop taxes dramatically they will NEVEr balance the books because there will be sod all revenue.
December 3, 2023
We can learn much from the fall of the Roman Empire. History definitely repeats itself with our politicians making the same mistakes as the Romans did back then. Just look up the 10 reasons why Rome failed and it mirrors what we have today. Are we heading for the dark ages again? I think we are.
December 3, 2023
James Burke also demonstrated that people copy others impulsively. In one show he arranged discreet withdrawal of a woman in the studio audience on a created excuse prior to the televised start. In her absence, all others were told that as soon as a loud burst of āLand of Hope & Gloryā suddenly interrupts his presentation, they must all stand, rapidly and loudly sing the words, then instantly sit quietly immediately the music stopped. The woman returned to the show, unaware of the plan, yet her conforming standing and singing was a tiny fraction behind the othersā. James then asked her why she behaved as she did. She replied that she just thought it was the right thing to do, because everyone else was doing it.
December 3, 2023
JR, no they do not get it. Rogue parliament back in full swing to tie UK to EU in stark contrast to mandate to leave. EU laws, regs and courts still apply! Lammy and Cameron both claiming the same thing namely more close ties with EU- when Tories have utterly and deliberately failed to deliver Brexit!! Giving away N.Ireland and keeping it in EU so GB toed to EU. Considering giving EU our military and foreign policy under security and defence pact!! UK still being fined by EU court, ECHR controlling immigration!
Productivity cannot be achieved while following EU and all public sector working a large proportion at home while MPs have second jobs!! After Home Office Rycrofts dismal performance, and his useless deputy, at select committee this week why is he still in a job by Friday? Patel and Braverman deposed quicker than this incompetent half wits who are paid a fortune! Productivity my arse.
December 3, 2023
And, dear readers, here we go again – yet another desperate attempt to blame someone, anyone (here, hard-working underfunded public sector workers) for the mess the Conservatives have made of this country over the last 13 years
December 3, 2023
Surely Sir John is not blaming the workers. He points in his blog article to the massive increase in public sector management jobs. In ten years the % share of job grades paying Ā£50,000 or more has doubled, apparently. It looks to me like the middle class welfare state: the Conservatives have looked after their own.
December 3, 2023
And who has let that massive increase number while letting large numbers work from home! Useless Tory govt over 14 years. You might have noticed the political coward Cameron is back. The one who was going to have a bonfire of quangos, the one who was going to implement what the public decided ie Brexit but ran off. Now back on project fear claim8 g closer ties to EU needed when divergence and separation from EU has not occurred!! EU laws still on the books despite promises for them to be scrapped!! Tying UK to EU energy inter-connectors so UK cannot have back its fishing waters!! Even though EU has increased its LNG from Russia by 30%!! Who does UK buy coal fromā¦.Russia. Despite having 300 years of supply under our own feet!! Same for fracked gas, oil and gas Tory govt prefer to import from hostile nation and EU which goes against their own nutty net stupid policy!! Peopleās living standards degenerating because of deliberate Tory policy to make us cold, hungry and third world public service status! Keep exporting manufacturing to Huntās beloved China or Sunakās beloved India!
December 3, 2023
And you St George will slay the dragon, fat chance. More likely you will open a dragon creche.
December 3, 2023
April 1st has come early.,and when you wake up ā¦ā¦ā¦.
December 3, 2023
I’m a retired Civil Servant. There were plenty of incompetent or lazy or just “couldn’t be bothered” in my department. The difference between the private and public sectors is that managers in the private sector deal with freeloaders …. many managers in the public sector don’t.
December 3, 2023
I had occasions to work with councils they have meetings to decide if there should be a meeting! Always compliant with EU or diversity woke agenda crap never a can do mentality. More of we cannot do this that and the other becauseā¦. Left wing EU woke crap. Always we need to make sure pay scales are commensurate with private sector!! Useless CEOs asked to leave with heavy severance packages to be rehired by another council!! Director of services linked their pay to CEO senior managers to Directors etc. It is obvious more workers fewer mangers required. Same applies to NHS etc. Tory govt have doneā¦ā¦ā¦.nothing.
Clue: reverse Harmanās and Blaireās race for equality and inclusive schemes and S.172 company Act for social, environmental rot nonsense.
December 3, 2023
+1
December 3, 2023
A recent client lost Ā£250K due to the incompetence of one individual. That individual was duley dismissed. The CS can lose hundreds of billions of Pounds Sterling and the worst that could happen to them would they just be moved to another department.
What makes the Public Sector so special that normal rules of employment simply do not apply ?
December 3, 2023
For a start all those with a āsecond jobā done in working hours (from home) should be sacked. They have demonstrated that they have not enough to do in the civil service.
December 3, 2023
Just a question Lemming, where is the money going to come from for your blessed Labour Party to fulfil your dreams to pay, hard-working public sector workers to earn what they wish and desire?
I read this article as questioning the ever increasing Managers in our public sector, government doesnāt have to intervene in JCB or Dyson, the āownerā generally sets the direction and often has to change that direction when outside influences apply pressure such as covid closedowns, Iām sure Elon Musk doesnāt have to walk the floor with his āManagersā each day. These managers are often earning more than MPs and Ministers yet you only seem to think government is responsible for failure and they donāt have any responsibility. Actually, i think the NHS Management team should be ashamed with the money theyāve been given since Mrs May boosted their turnover with more than the amount promised on the bus. Iām sure not all of the NHS is failing and I think those successful trusts should speak out about the failing trusts like Manchester with the longest waiting lists in the Country, which incidentally is run by your Labour Mayor Mr Burnham since 2017.
If railway drivers think they can do better anywhere else for those working hours with their skills then they should leave and we should train drivers that want to work those shifts and with those responsibilities. Most people I know think Ā£65,000 pa is a great salary. I wonder how it compares to equivalents in neighbouring Countries, do we poach railway drivers from abroad as we do nurses and doctors, I wonder what % of our UK train drivers are foreign? Their passengers have had enough of it.
December 3, 2023
Elimination of many lower grade jobs (Clerical Assistant and Clerical Officer) may explain a good part of “Since 2012 the percentage of higher grades (EO and above) has risen from 54% to 72% of the total” perhaps?
December 3, 2023
Statistics on how many in each grade got promoted to the next higher might be revealing? Pay increases by stealth?
December 3, 2023
M T
Pay increases by stealth.
Exactly, looking after their own, at our expense
December 3, 2023
There should be no shortage of well qualified doctors, dentists, engineers etc as you keep Importing thousands every year. I see mainstream opinion in Germany is against more Importing of aliens. A full 80% on benefits according to Bild. Where does this money come from to pay these chancers
December 3, 2023
Germany is wondering how it can afford to pay for the EU….. almost half of Net Contributions now comes from Germany. Expect more complaints from Bundesbank, and creative fines from Berlaymont.
December 3, 2023
Itās their empire, they wanted it. Britain paid 100% of the contributions for a very much bigger and widespread and expensive Empire.
Letās see Germany man up – or admit that has never been half of what we were (and if we can Buck the political class) are!
December 3, 2023
Yes, I’m not worried about Germany, but I am worried that UK will be fined for spurious supposed infractions and hand over yet more Billions by a profligate, complacent administration.
We need to give notice to terminate the Bunter-fudged leaving deal.
December 3, 2023
+1
December 3, 2023
Lynn
We paid +100% of contributions to the EU thanks to CMD now Lord Haw Haw.
December 3, 2023
historic-cornwall.org.uk 11/12/2022 āThe British Empire, from profitable to loss-makingā.
December 3, 2023
Another Brexit win, the EU is talking of restricting access to the European electricity grid if we don’t let them keep raping our seas for fish.
When will someone in govgrow a pair and stand up for us.
December 3, 2023
The Party Grandees didn’t resurrect Call Me Dave so that the Not-a-Conservative-Party would start to stand up to the EU.
December 3, 2023
Ian,
Tying fishing waters to electric was deliberate to stop UK diverting from EU. Treacherous Tory/Uni party.
December 5, 2023
The Westminster lot have never understood that the EU sees a UK more successful post Brexit as an existential threat to ever closer union. It makes no bones about keeing the UK down. All the more important prior to its next round of expansion including Ukraine. When Ukrainians who have been giving their lives to gain the sovereignty of their country find out what membership of the EU is really like – and once the glow of shed loads of other people’s money has cooled – they will not take kindly to being ruled by unaccountable technocrats in Brussels, especially as the main objective is exploitation of Ukraine’s vast mineral reserves for EU Green Energy – as Von Der Leyen has recently announced and is now documented in the EU’s plans for Ukraine. They will be a lot more awkward than Poles and Hungarians. So it is urgent to block UK’s prosperity as much as possible.
December 5, 2023
The Westminster lot have never understood that the EU sees a UK more successful post Brexit as an existential threat to ever closer union. It makes no bones about keeping the UK down. All the more important prior to its next round of expansion including Ukraine. When Ukrainians who have been giving their lives to gain the sovereignty of their country find out what membership of the EU is really like – and once the glow of shed loads of other people’s money has cooled – they will not take kindly to being ruled by unaccountable technocrats in Brussels, especially as the main objective of the EU is exploitation of Ukraine’s vast mineral reserves for EU Green Energy – as Von Der Leyen has recently announced and is now documented in the EU’s plans for Ukraine. They will be a lot more awkward than Poles and Hungarians. So it is urgent to block UK’s prosperity as much as possible.
December 5, 2023
Australia requires immigrants to show they will not be a burden on the state. Simple.
December 3, 2023
‘I am all in favour of more well qualified teachers and medics to cope with growing demand.’
A questionable need for them if the government would just stop mass immigration, legal and illegal.
Perhaps another thing that needs highlighting is the very low employment rates of certain groups, most especially one group with multiple wives and children. All requiring teachers, medics and housing at the expense of the indigenous peoples.
December 3, 2023
I am sure the direction of your arguement is correct. In the private sector, except where there might be a single monopoly supplier or a cartel operating, competition ensures productivity. Those who are not productive go bust, a natural process of elimination.
In the public sector the opposite is true. All that none productive labour and management in the public sector is directly responsible for the high public spending of UK governments of all political persuations. Between the persuasions currently it would be hard to pass a cigarette paper. Ultimately it directly accounts for the astronomic individual and corporate tax bill UK government extracts from its citizens. Perhaps excusable were the services provided top of the range exceptional. They are not, they are the very antithesis. The fact that ministers cannot or do not wish to see this only emphasises their total unsuitability for office, their weakness in dealing with an out of control civil service and the banality of their response to your written questions. Not to overlook the total vacuousness of the Home Office under parliamentary committee scrutiny.
So what can be done. A rewriting of the CS terms of contract and a cull of at least 60%. Rethink the terms of contract of MPs . The UK cannot afford the luxury of PPEs running it with ministers ignorant of their given subject and no experience of running anything with success in the private sector. It will not happen under any of the three main parties, ergo we need a Reform government.
December 3, 2023
We had a ānewā party in our local council, itās only a small example of what happens with new political group mash-ups. They all began to argue with each other, one resigned, another got kicked out, the group split in half and argue with each other in the press. There are some good intentioned people, even with all that going on it is better than what we had before as they just took all the electors for granted and treated the town dreadfully, they have discovered lots of mistakes in the old accounts of the one party that had control of the Town for decades. Events have been better, the lights and Christmas tree are better, its a shame they walk into a situation where the town is boarded up and half pulled out and its a shame for the local few traders remaining that buses have been put on to our major cities taking what few shoppers there are without their own transport out of town to spend their money.
How would a new mash-up of small parties having to join and concede their promises help anyone?
December 3, 2023
What can be done is what the Real Tories did back in the early 90’s – Compulsory Competitive Tendering. This meant that ALL Local Authorities had to offer out to the Private Sector any work currently undertaken by them. The difference between the two was stark.
December 3, 2023
High productivity needs:- easy hire and fire, a much smaller state, to ditch net zero, go for cheap, reliable, on demand energy, far lower taxes, a bonfire or red tape, far less market rigging in schools, healthcare, universities, transport, cars, energy, housing, banking, relaxing planning, less benefit incentives that encourage so many people not to work, less low skilled immigrationā¦ For the last 13 years the Tories have been travelling in totally the wrong direction in almost all of these areas. Indeed we have since John (ERM fiasco) Major ousted Thatcher and even Thatcher failed to get fair competition in many areas like healthcare, schools, housing, transport, failed to cut the state sector sufficiently and she even fell for climate alarmism.
December 3, 2023
LL,
Tory govt, Has deliberately chosen, yes chosen, low paid workers through mass immigration against their repeated promises to cut immigration, both legal and illegal. The 1.3 million increase over the last two years was not an accident but a deliberate choice. Tory govt has experimented to give people Ā£1600 per month not to work!!
December 3, 2023
You should be able to give people three months notice, the end. You shouldnāt have to keep negative, poor quality people for life because that reduces productivity because theyāre doing jobs theyāre just not suited to.
December 3, 2023
Indeed and it is not good for the good workers who end up having to carry them. It depresses all their wages too.
December 3, 2023
As to state sector productivity what do they actually produce of value for the 47% of GDP the state spends? Not very much at all & much of it is actually spent doing net harm – like net zero, road blocking, market rigging, over regulating, daft employment laws, pushing up energy cost and unreliability, pushing & forcing duff and espensive EVs.over taxing, over complex taxation, encouraging and augmenting the feckless, arresting Tommy Robinson for sitting in a cafe, encouraging anti-semitism… Plus they killed productivity with counterproductive lockdowns and killed many thousands of people by coercing dangerous and largely ineffective Covid vaccines into people even people with zero need of themā¦and even made them and children wear worthless masks all day that they knew were worthless.
Cancel this sick joke Ā£multi-million Covid Enquiry that is not even asking the right questions for a start.
December 3, 2023
Sir John may I suggest you contact the CIM to explain the rise of the self full filling Management culture. How many people does it take to change a light bulb in todays world? One electrician and four management staff reporting on and organising the electrician. He or She
most certainly can’t go and buy thier own light bulbs that’s for sure. And it takes the electrician a few minutes to change the blub and 10 minutes to make a report to management.
This little tale is not to degarde the role of the electrician but also highlights the fact that the over regulated world would not allow a non- certified, allbeit competant, person to change the bulb in the first place.
December 3, 2023
I hope there was a Civil Servant to check hiring qualifications, and that he/she had attended the ‘working at height course?’
December 3, 2023
Socialist parasitism across the unions and the major parties is destroying the UK.
I know what they’re unions, Labour, Tory and SNP believe today, grifters one and all and all sucking from the teat of the state financed by taxes paid by your average shelf-stacker, trucker and taxi driver in the private sector
I ignore union propaganda with their mantra of ‘overworked and underpaid’ bollox. A trash narrative not supported by facts
December 3, 2023
There are two types of productivity, incremental and step change – the latter involves ongoing improvement to existing processes which can produce a relatively small change each year (eg 20% – an example of step change productivity improvement was the switch from horse drawn transport to rail transport.
The UK is brilliant at developing enabling technologies (eg graphene) which are an excellent platform from which to deliver step change productivity improvement globally. I believe that this should be an area of strategic focus for the UK since it a) enables us to achieve more with less, b) increases exports, and c) generates higher paid and more interesting jobs.
December 3, 2023
Cancel attendance at the sick joke COP jamborees too and ditch the market rigging BBC propagamda tax too. Any Questions Radio 4 was the usual sick joke from the BBC yesterday. Four panelists and the chair and the audience all clearly believers in the climate emergency war on plant food religion. I doubt if any had an science beyond GCSE.
Rather like having five people with my background discussing the finer points of Beowulf and Greek literature. But I would at least have tried to mug up a little. They did not even do that and seemed almost proud of their total ignorance.
Graham Stuart Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero failed his philosophy and law degrees. Even the fairly sensible John Caldwell ditched support for the Tories when Sunak very slightly rolled back on forcing EV cars. Does he not realise EV cars cause more CO2 and more pollution not less just some of it is elsewhere – far worse than keeping your old car for longer in the main?
December 3, 2023
The civil service tells the government they need more people to do the job, and the MPs in government don’t have the wit to push back.
Is anyone surprised when come election time the candidates are all falling over themselves to tell us how they will spend more money?
December 3, 2023
The āConservativeā Party isnāt. It has become increasingly sloppy. Former Conservatives voters are funding Reform and switching allegiance to Reform as their sole refuge to supporting their country and its values.
December 3, 2023
Reform, Reclaim, UKIP, canāt keep up with it, if these lot canāt get together then they just cancel each other out. I donāt understand Bridgen going to Reclaim and not Reform? Bizarre, and Fox has just got himself cancelled, and he seemed a nice chap.
December 3, 2023
A-tracy:
The lot you describe do have overlapping aims as well as differences they regard as key, just as other parties do. Reform appears to be the better funded and best-prepared contender likely to be ready in every constituency. If Nigel Farage adds his own active thrust he might lead the largest party. The unexpected happens only because it is unexpected.
December 3, 2023
Frankly it is an utter disgrace that weak ministers have allowed this situation to fester for decades indeed until recently we used to get the āworld classā statement from PMs until even they realised it was total boleaux.
Performance management shouldnāt be something you raise when you are politically in the mire, it should be embedded in the day to day culture.
Sadly it isnāt and we the tax payer, without bullet/inflation linked pensions. Jobs for life, undeserved bonuses and knighthoods etc have to suffer.
December 3, 2023
In my experience the real front line workers in the NHS seem to work long and hard enough, the problem is management and administration, which again from my own experience is as near to unless as you can get.
My impression, and information from family members who have worked in both private commercial businesses, as well as State and Local Authority type organisations, is that with a commercial organisation you are usually rewarded financially for success, in State and Local authority you are rewarded for time served in the job, no matter if you are good, bad, or indifferent, indeed in order to remove the useless ones from a department they are often offered promotion or a sideways move to another department, rather than being sacked, thus that sort of thinking accelerates the decline and performance of the whole set up, as you get a reward for failure.
December 3, 2023
@ Berkshire Allen, what you say is 100% correct. Then if the Minister in charge and their Government concerned donāt care, canāt be bothered, or just as correctly donāt know how to manage the UKās public finances, why should those that empire build to protect themselves be bothered either. It is not about the results itās about personal self-esteem and spend, the more you spend the better you must be. Just look at the top of the tree Sunak & Hunt no one in living memory has āgivenā away as much of the UKās hard-earned money without attaching a payback than they have. Yet as we have seen the Conservative MPās, CCHQ and the Conservative Party fell the need to protect them even though the only result is the destruction of everything they say the stand for.
December 3, 2023
Yes Alan, there are many hard working nurses but as in all companies there are some awful ones. I was visiting a family member and the guys machine went off bleeping next to me and just was being ignored, getting louder an louder agitating the other patients in the small ward, the three nurses were chatting at the reception desk for an age, I was asked not to go over in case they took it out on my relative once Iād left but eventually I went over and politely asked them if they could come to look at him and turn the machine off. One of the others wet themselves waiting for a bed pan too. I guess its a postcode lottery if your experiences are all positive.
December 3, 2023
A Tracy
No certainly not 100% positive, but more than 60% which in todays World is positive.
Yes witnessed exactly the same as you when a family member was in hospital, I took the same action as you, with the same trepidation and concerns
December 3, 2023
Good morning Sir John
Its simple Governments (or Parliament for that manner) cannot run anything. Their desire to micro manage, over prescribe and go on a one scenario fits all based on appealing to the Metro Left in London always did have failure written Large all over it.
Government and Parliament are the UKās legislators, they are there to create frameworks for potential to be released they are not the nations prescribers of thought and being. They are there to Serve the people in realizing their own aspirations, not dictating on how Foreign Masters have prescribed things to be and bolstering personal self-gratification.
When things need to be done it works when those the service/product is being delivered to and paid by also manage and do.
December 3, 2023
A bloated civil service / public sector suits the aims of the establishment blob – It certainly wastes money, just like the PM gave away Ā£Billions to support the alleged emergency, when it will have no effect whatsoever.
The name of the game is ” Waste as much money and resources as you can in the most inexcusable manner, because you will get away with it”
WHY?
In order to rebuild the new world order the old one has to be totally destroyed.
December 3, 2023
@Bryan Harris – the teachings of the Left, Communism and the WEF written large. Its even spouted as gospel and the way forward to those that attend these āGroup Thinkā indoctrination sessions. Now seemingly taken up by this fraud of a Conservative Government
December 3, 2023
Bryan That’s what wokeness is all about too – causes confusion, breaks up accepted norms and creates fear of offending, and so self censorship of speech.
December 3, 2023
I worked as a provider to the Civil Service for decades. I could write a book about the waste that proliferates within it. Most of the management is waste. They hold unnecessary meetings. I regularly attended meetings as the sole provider against a dozen Civil Servants who were neither skilled nor qualified to question what was being delivered. One of the biggest wastes was politicians changing direction. They start with tough new rules to change the benefits systems and then water them down as they get flak from the opposition and lobbyists. My suggestion to improve productivity is to cut the management by half but leave the lower grades to deliver services. Stop working from home unless it can be measured. Cut unproductive roles like Diversity Managers. Cut the number of emails. Try to increase full-time staff as opposed to part-time staff. Cut the number of consultants and contractors. Iāve seen many mediocre middle managers leave one week on 30k and return as contractors the next week on 120k.
December 3, 2023
Indeed but also stop doing all the things that government should not be doing like net zero, all the market rigging, help people to cross the channel, the BBC propaganda unit tax, most of the duff education system, coercing dangerous vaccines into people with zero need of them, the idiotic lockdowns, blocking the roads with anti-car traffic junctions, bus and bike lanes, the woke & diversity lunacyā¦
The civil service care little about what they do, if it delivers anything of value or even delivers negative value so long as they are paid and given gold plated pensions (especially if they can āworkā from home or even hold down two jobs). As Milton Friedman puts it not their money so they care not what they pay, nor what value (if any at all) they deliver.
Many realise they are delivering little of value and often more harm than good so that is rather a large disincentive to doing the job efficiently.
December 3, 2023
I expected a civil servant contact I know to defend them but instead they were exasperated at their inability to improve productivity. They said theyāre expected to close four times more cases a month than they ever do and there are never any consequences that they donāt ever improve. What can be done to shake up this culture?!
December 3, 2023
Cortona
You ask what can be done to shake up the CS culture. Performance related pay?
And a new invention – ‘did they do as they were instructed?’ related pay!
December 3, 2023
We need to be asking the ‘simple’ questions. For example, How many Public Sector staff had their positions downgraded due to incompetence over the past year? Or how about how many Public Sector staff had their salary cut due to failure to achieve the required objective of their office?
These questions point out if there is a culture that is focused on value for Public money and whether the managers in that Public Sector dept. are fit for purpose to hold the title of, manager.
December 3, 2023
The profusion of QUANGOs?!
Call me Dave is back. Let his ābonfire of the QUANGOsā begin anew. When I say āanewā – did it ever start or was the wood too wet?
December 3, 2023
Cheap money removes the need for productivity gains.āWhether it is the private sector being able to borrow for share buybacks, etc., or the Government borrowing to slush more money into the public sector.āBoth are shorting money because they know how much fiat currency loses over time.
Lyn Alden’s ‘Broken Money’ book makes an excellent Christmas gift for those who’d like to understand the cause of so much which is wrong with the world since WWā ” forged Bretton Woods in ’44.āIt’s the money.
December 3, 2023
Sir John
I understand your perceived concern, but I donāt think passing the blame (the buck) on those that build these empires to protect themselves are the actual fault line. All these areas of concern are run, controlled, managed and awarded funds by this Conservative Government, they alone get to define the service and the outcome by the very act of being the purchaser on behalf of us all.
Some in your Government, your Party, might conceivably put forward the argument, that this Conservative Government canāt be responsible for all these avenues that are out of control. I would put forward the suggestion that these same individuals, Cabinet Minister, the Conservative Government, those that have assumed control, that award and control the spend are looking to build personal egoās and find self-gratification āshouldā something turn out to āworkā.
They cant have it both ways, get applauded when things go right without accepting full blame when things donāt work out- it isnāt anyone elseās fault, not someone elseās war, not a plague, not the markets, not criminal entry into the UK, not the UN, not ECHR and so on ā it is 100% those that have been empowered and paid to manage the UK.
December 3, 2023
Only the top end of any system is to blame for shortfalls and levels of incompetence ; if knowledge and skills are lacking in management and control then the results show down the line with profitability . Utimately if the way forward in any organisation is vague and clarity of objectives missing the outcome is a mess . The Managing Director is key to success ; if he/she does not keep the watchful eye working at all times mayhem results .
December 3, 2023
JR: “The main parties and most pundits agree the UK economy has been held back by a poor performance on productivity.”
Please Mr Redwood, be so kind as to give us a measure of and the metrics used to derive the productivity of Parliament?
The leader of your party doesn’t seem to have a very high opinion of the calibre of members of Parliament, since he has parachuted his foreign secretary into the Lords.
Why is the calibre of MPs so low?
December 3, 2023
APL, I thought the Minister of State for Education and education standards Nick Gibb was excellent at his job. I actually thought Gove was best in Education although I believe the majority of teachers hated his control and changes.
Sir John, could perhaps tell us which Ministers departments are well run and why, who is getting good productivity in the civil service. There must be a handful of successes.
December 4, 2023
Mission impossible?
‘which Ministers departments are well run and why, who is getting good productivity’.
December 3, 2023
@ APL “Why is the calibre of MPs so low?” – it is a rotten job in contemporary Britain, where any slip of the tongue risks cancellation, where the infotainment industry continually seeks to manufacture sensation out of nothing and where it is prudent to wear a stab vest to meet constitents. Accordingly, serious people of the likes of some of the legacy MPs first elected last centuary no longer seek the job so we are left with the shower you have seen arrive more recently.
December 3, 2023
formula57: “where any slip of the tongue risks cancellation, ”
Yep, just like the rest of us. But remember, Parliament is the organ that created this environment.
formula57: “where the infotainment industry continually seeks to manufacture sensation out of nothing ”
The government pays for the worst offender ( the BBC ) .
formula57: “and where it is prudent to wear a stab vest to meet constitents. ”
Yep. Just like the rest of us, we’re exposed to this hell all the time. This is the country the Tories have bequeathed us.
formula57: “it is a rotten job in contemporary Britain, …”
Yet there is no shortage of candidates for the job.
December 3, 2023
Sir John
āI have tried to get Ministers to impose a ban on additional recruitment to the civil service and public administration save where an exceptional case can be made out for the need. ā
Yourself like the majority at the centre of the Conservative Party get it, but when you think it through it is this Conservative Government that is out of control is clueless about its purpose and doesnāt know how to manage. Lots of speeches, promises, revues, grandstanding on foreign stages ā but doing nothing. And who gets to create this Conservative Government(even after GEās) so where does the ultimate responsibility lay@
The list, the UK economy, UK energy, the NHS, OBR, ONS, the BoE, roads, infrastructure, UK expenditure, mass Criminal invasion, inflation, high interest rates all for close on 14 years managed and controlled by the Conservative Government. With the same Conservative Government taking excessive money from the UK citizens in taxes ramping up vast unheard off debts in peace time.
Supposedly 350 Conservative MP’s with 52( have seen the writing on the wall and donāt care) are know to be standing down at the next election – the rest the ones that had the gift of ensuring good Government? Who knows. The other 398, some extremely good MPās seem to be resigned to their fate and have accepted they will be gone soon ā no fighters for the rights of the UK People then.
The UKās problems lay with those in this Government not the Administrators they are paying to deliver ā where does the buck stop?
December 3, 2023
And be clear, Mr Redwood thinks it’s nothing to do with him.
December 3, 2023
The usual productivity stuff about bashing the folk at the coalface. Utter garbage, the real wasters are up in the Ā£80k to Ā£180k bracket. A fish rots from the head – rubbish ideas and policies from ministers and lobbyists et al. It may be inconvenient but you politicians need to look in the mirror – the problem is you.
December 3, 2023
People at the coal face as you call it Jim, can act together to bring a Manager down. It doesnāt always follow they were right. If they were any good they wouldnāt need micro-managing on every little thing. They would be hitting minimum targets and wanting to serve their customers, the people paying for their service.
December 3, 2023
As ever in modern political discourse, the discussion on “productivity” is skewed towards the narrative of those with an agenda.
In simple tyerms, “productivity” measures the output per unit of input (any resource such as capital, labour etc).
The difference between macroeconomic productivity (for the economy as a whole) and other measures is important but never aired.
Macroeconomic productivity is usually calculated simply as the ratio of GDP to hours worked. GDP is the total tax take, so simply raising taxes should increase productivity (if everyone plays nicely and simply pays more to the govt – which they don’t, of course).
However, in calculating the productivity for, say, a factory the value of the inputs and outputs are affected by the costs within the factory itself. In that sense, people involved in management are a cost since they do not directly produce any widgets. Therefore any drive to reduce the numbers involved in management would increase productivity by that particular measure, at that particular microeconomic level.
Some services are easy to calculate in the same fashion as for goods production – if there are end products that can be quantified then it may be straightforward. For example, passport renewal can count the number of passports issued in the same way as a factory producing car tyres can count the number of tyres produced.
Where it becomes difficult is measuring the output of, say, an architect. The projects vary in complexity and their service is provided throughout the work not only at the initial stage so counting the number of blueprints produced would be severely flawed. Even a plumber does different types of work, so you cannot count how many tap washer were changed and compare it to another plumber’s number of whole bathrooms installed or refurbished.
What this tells us is that these measures/methods are not exact by any means. There are many different types of calculations of productivity, yet those who discuss it always do so in the simplest terms which make it sound as if it’s as straightforward as adding up to “all you worker types need to work harder, please churn out more widgets”. The reality is much deeper and is probably more related to “too much management”.
The “too much management” issue would be seen in assessing a factory’s output, but would not be easy to see in macroeconomic terms, since a highly-paid manager who adds little value to an organisation would still earn a high amount, pay a lot of tax (thus contributing to GDP) and since they work some number of hours they may be seen as highly productive in the economy-wide sense – although the opposite os actually true in the real-world sense.
So the measures themselves also need to be better – and more relevant to a UK economy that is now predominantly services rather than goods. I.e. economics needs to advance, it is far from being “a science” yet people quote its calculations as if they are laws of nature – often with a simplistic understanding of the figures they are quoting (how many politicians and commentators know the difference between the various calculations of productivity, or the weaknesses and inaccuracies of the calculations?).
December 3, 2023
The Tories have been in power for over 13 years and in that time have inundated the statute book with new laws. Having given themselves a pat on the back for their achievement, they then have to rely on the civil service to implement those laws whilst the civil servants are still doing the same for the accretion of statutes from times past, some of which may have no present relevance but have not been repealed. Not only that but the civil service is also on the hook to deliver where problems have arisen and festered because of abject failures of government creating crises requiring extra resources such the invasion of unassimilable aliens and the desire to save the planet by destroying our manufacturing industry and doing the same for farming and fishing with civil servants running around counting carbon credits, livestock and fish.
Tory privatisations have also led to a massive increase in civil service supervisory roles to oversee public services which they have privatised, now frequently foreign owned and charging far more for a poorer service.
December 3, 2023
Forthurst, which public services which they have privatised, foreign owned and charging far more for a poorer service do you mean?
I believe English water is comparable with Scottish water (publicly owned)?
Housing Associations didnāt build new affordable rental homes, they rely on government and taxpayers for top ups and charity aid, yet they own plenty of ex-council land. They let their homes go mouldy and it will be the muggings tax payers who will ending up paying because they havenāt used their funds wisely.
December 3, 2023
The correct comparison is between water rates which were an addendum to those for council services and the costs imposed by privatised water. In my recollection sewerage received first world treatment
rather third world dumping in rivers. I could go on but frankly I can’t be bothered.
December 4, 2023
I read an interesting thread on X by @LoftusSteve on UK waters.
December 3, 2023
I notice another means chosen to protect yourself against criticism is the heading ‘productivity’.
Dare not use overstaffing or gross overstaffing.
December 3, 2023
“Since 2012 the percentage of higher grades (EO and above) has risen from 54% to 72% of the total. Grade 6-7 are up from 7% to 14%.”
Apart from anything else, having an ever-increasing proportion of highly-paid top grades is obviously stoking the fires of inflation. How is it possible to criticize rail workers for ‘greed’ when this transparently collective self-serving is fostered at the heart of government? Have MPs no thought at all for those workers at the bottom of the pile? And how shall those managing perfectly well on inflation-linked benefits be persuaded to join those impoverished lower echelons of the workforce?
December 3, 2023
Off topic, Sir John,
Why has Rishi Sunak appointed an Attorney General who does not believe in the sovereignty of Parliament?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/02/civil-servants-seeking-block-sunak-rwanda-legislation/
“The Telegraph understands that Mrs Prentice has argued that notwithstanding clauses would be unlawful and previously blocked them when they were proposed by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary.”
Here is Bill Cash explaining it all in very clear, and legally – constitutionally – correct, terms:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/03/time-to-solve-the-illegal-migrant-crisis-once-and-for-all/
“The crucial issue for voters is immigration and āstopping the boatsā. So the Bill introduced into the Commons to do so must be belt and braces, in line with Section 38 of the Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020. It must recognise that the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sovereign.
The House of Lords Constitution Committee, including Europhiles, in their report of 18th January 2023 states: āParliamentary sovereignty means that Parliament can legislate contrary to the UKās obligations under international lawā, with clear, express and unambiguous words..”
“In the Nationality and Borders Bill 2021, I proposed an amendment in the Commons, with much support, for a clear ānotwithstandingā formula to override the Human Rights Act, the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. āNotwithstandingā is well understood as ordinary, plain language and used in thousands of commercial contracts. This, if enacted and tweaked by parliamentary counsel, would have done the job. It was not adopted, so we now need action and political will.”
And so forth.
December 4, 2023
“Why has Rishi Sunak appointed an Attorney General who does not believe in the sovereignty of Parliament?”
What are the odds that Rishi Sunak believes in the sovereignty of Parliament ?
December 3, 2023
Itās no surprise that the UK has been held back by poor performance on productivity. This is the result of allowing the civil service and all the taxpayer funded quangos, regulators and institutions to run by a Marxist fifth column who increase state employment and costs at every opportunity to :
– Increase spending to increase taxes on the UK wealth creators.
– Increase state employment to increase their core vote.
– Decrease the number of real, money earning jobs and potential wealth creators that the UK needs to survive.
– Decrease the total number of available workers in order to provide reasons for massive immigration.
– Enable more rules, regulations and restrictions to be set into legislation to hamper private sector productivity and add inconvenience and costs to the general public.
– Provide jobs and funding for those who wish to take the Government to court.-
December 3, 2023
Who works for the Institute of Government Acorn, other civil servants? or is it a privately owned organisation.
Lobbyists arenāt real business people though are they, theyāre selected for the āwho you know and can influenceā category and if they did favours for current Ministers or even for MPs hoping to form the next government that could be useful. With the level of competition in the UK amongst newspapers, I donāt see what all the big fuss is about the Telegraph, Iām sure their competitors would be keeping an eye on them, and The Guardian always loves a big exposĆØ. What do you think the problem is?
December 5, 2023
Thank you. I had to look him up. The richest Britain according to Forbes. You didn’t mention he was a Labour Peer, giving them a Ā£2m donation in February plus funding his daughter has provided, so he is not unbiased.
December 3, 2023
In light of the news “54.5% are women and 45.5% are men” surely the modern response is to endlessly lambast the civil service for its institutional sexism rather than the otherwise entirely sensible approach of being “more interested in what they contribute and what their skills are” ?
December 4, 2023
When claims are made that productivity is low, or lower than it was, how is it being measured? Presumably, productivity is the workload divided by the amount of effort, but how is the workload calculated? Or is it assumed that the workload remains the same, but the effort has increased? This last assumption might be invalid in the context of, for example, the N.H.S., where the workload in recent years has been insufficient to meet demands and needs to increase considerably to address backlogs and poor levels of service.
December 4, 2023
What you fail to realise (or deliberately ignore) is that the public sector is essentially and primarily a provider of services. Whether that be social help to individuals or groups or advice to ministers. And it is extremely difficult to improve productivity in this sort of work. It can be helped by better training, by improving processes, and to some small extent by technology. This is in sharp contrast to manufacturing where automation can provide massive improvements.
Of course, this was ignored by Thatcher and her successors who wanted to move us to a service, and primarily financial service, driven economy, And the lesson hasn’t been learnt (or has been ignored) by her successors. Of course, by denigrating manufacturing she also reduced the influence of trade unions. So once again narrow party interest trumped doing the right thing for the nation.
December 4, 2023
OT:
Sunak has agreed to pay Ā£2.4bn to the EU to join the science programme.
Does that guy have a clue how his actions are perceived by the electorate? (The ones who might actually hve voted for his party)
He clearly doesn’t care now, he’s just pushing us back into the EU’s orbit, ready for Starmer to finish the job.
Perhaps he believes that MPs believe that there’s no worthwhile alternative to him, no Boris type candidate that can win an election so the parliamentary party will just sit for it, knowing that there’s no better option. I hope our host’s seat is safe.
I see Reform UK are gaining ground. No wonder. We’ll see more and more of that.
December 5, 2023
I have commented before on how difficult it is to measure productivity in the public sector. SO this time I checked with the ONS:
“For some service areas, it is difficult to measure output directly. Three areas (police, defence and other government services) are measured fully using the āoutput-equals-inputsā convention ā here it is assumed output growth is equal to inputs growth. We also use this convention for a proportion of output for childrenās social care, adult social care and healthcare. As a result, a proportion of PSP sees no measured productivity change. For 2017, the latest year in which data are available at the time of writing, āoutput-equals-inputsā applies to 41% of total output.
So for 41% of public expenditure there cannot ever be any change in productivity over time using this method.
One of the implications is that while service providers demand more labour, reasonably or unreasonably, those responsible for accounting for the additional expenditure cannot on this basis demand a commensurate increase in productivity for the higher input, eg. a wage rise. They’ll never get it and cannot blame the service providers.
I suggest the way productivity is measured in the public service is reviewed and more useful measures devised so that we can measure bang for buck.
December 5, 2023
Sorry. Typo. Insert quotation marks after ” applies to 41% of total output.” End of ONS quotation.
December 5, 2023
Revised:
I have commented before on how difficult it is to measure productivity in the public sector. SO this time I checked with the ONS:
āFor some service areas, it is difficult to measure output directly. Three areas (police, defence and other government services) are measured fully using the āoutput-equals-inputsā convention ā here it is assumed output growth is equal to inputs growth. We also use this convention for a proportion of output for childrenās social care, adult social care and healthcare. As a result, a proportion of PSP sees no measured productivity change. For 2017, the latest year in which data are available at the time of writing, āoutput-equals-inputsā applies to 41% of total output.”
So for 41% of public expenditure there cannot ever be any change in productivity over time using this method.
One of the implications is that while service providers demand more labour, reasonably or unreasonably, those responsible for accounting for the additional expenditure cannot on this basis demand a commensurate increase in productivity for the higher input, eg. a wage rise. Theyāll never get it and cannot blame the service providers.
I suggest the way productivity is measured in the public service is reviewed and more useful measures devised so that we can measure bang for buck.
December 5, 2023
The UK economy is strong on services rather than manufacture. Services are difficult to increase productivity.