Added value of simple policies

HOW ironic that Ministers should concede that one of their key policies to stimulate economic growth in Yorkshire and the English regions was overly “complicated” on the day that the TaxPayers’ Alliance challenged councils to come up with new ways to cut bureaucratic costs.

The convergence of these reports gives further credence to all those taxpayers who contend that Britain is badly governed nationally and locally – whether it be the spiralling cost of aircraft carriers or Yorkshire Forward’s mismanagement of the Digital Region disaster.

First the Treasury and its national insurance “holiday” for start-up firms outside the prosperous South East. George Osborne has now revised this policy after just 26,000 firms took up the opportunity of a tax break – just 6.5 per cent of the Treasury’s projection of 400,000 companies.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This is because the scheme was poorly advertised and the volume of form-filling expected by Ministers simply put off small businesses who did not have the time, or resources, to comply to the demands. Why did no one think of this in the first place?

This is a lesson in the need for clear and efficient policies if the private sector is to deliver economic growth on the scale envisaged. It is particularly important when the coalition – and also Labour – are having to devise policies with a limited lifespan due to budget constraints.

This mindset is also applicable to local government. While some of the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s 201 ways to cut council tax bills are more practical than others – families in Leeds may not take kindly to sheep and cattle grazing in Roundhay Park to cut grass cutting costs – there is merit to limiting the perks of councillors, now well-remunerated individuals, and combining the posts of finance director and chief executive.

But it is the watchdog’s call for word limits on verbose council reports that has the greatest potential for change – brevity has become a much-neglected trait across the public sector.

Schools scrutiny

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

IT is increasingly clear that Michael Gove and the Department for Education have not done enough homework over the governance of free schools – a flagship coalition policy.

This is the conclusion many people will draw from problems surrounding the Kings Science Academy in Bradford, one of the first free schools to open in September 2011, and the Government’s failure to ensure allegations of fraud at the school were properly reported to the police when the use of fabricated invoices for thousands of pounds of public money was first discovered by the DfE.

It should not have taken the leaking of the DfE’s internal report into this matter, and then an exhaustive investigation by this newspaper, to reveal the breakdown in communication which culminated with the police originally “noting” the complaint rather than mounting a thorough investigation.

In this instance, a proper police inquiry is necessary and justifiable – it will either expose any wrongdoing or exonerate the school so it can focus exclusively on the education of its pupils.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In summary, there should not have been a six-month delay between the fraud allegations being made and West Yorkshire Police finally becoming involved.

Yet there is a wider issue at stake – and that is the monitoring of free schools as they increase in number. As they operate outside of the remit of LEAs, it is down to the DfE to provide such scrutiny and ensure no misuse of public funds.

However the robustness of these safeguards now appears open to question because of the apparent mishandling of this case. This needs addressing at the earliest opportunity so parents can have total confidence in free schools. Over to you, Mr Gove.

Out of vogue

IS Marks & Spencer going out of fashion? A national institution that grew from humble origins at Leeds Market to become a British bastion of the high street, this is the question facing the store after it posed a ninth successive slump in clothes sales.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Chief executive Marc Bolland tried to put a brave face on this yesterday. The former boss of Morrisons pleaded for time and suggested that the Autumn range will yield better results in the crucial run-up to Christmas – optimistic predictions that have not come to pass previously.

The fact that the M&S brand is now being challenged by the likes of Primark seemed lost on Mr Bolland when John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio Four’s Today programme, asked him which word summed up his store’s approach – “cheap”, “cool” or “sensible”?

Adjectives synonymous with the store, Mr Bolland dodged the question and responded with a word of his own – “stylish”.

That maybe so. But his obfuscation revealed two crucial weaknesses in his strategy. A new generation of shoppers needs better reasons to buy its clothes from M&S and it needs to address its declining customer service which is now out of step with public’s increased expectations. In short, living off past glories is not a strategy for the future when the struggle for market share is so competitive.