There’s plenty to cut without touching the ‘front line’

THERE have been so many reports of the necessity for cuts to be made to front line services in the local authorities and public sector, that I feel I must give some details of my own recent experience of working inside a smallish (population approx 160,000) local authority.

From March to December 2008, and from April 2009 to March 2010, I worked in a fairly large department (not front line) of the local authority in question, and from my first day until my last, never ceased to be amazed at the underlying culture within the authority of a lack of urgency, accountability, and general inefficiency.

I should say here that this was my first experience of working in the public sector, following more than 40 years in the private sector. In the department in which I was working, I estimate that it could easily have operated just as effectively with about two-thirds or less of the number of people that were working there.

I had access to the council’s intranet, and there was evidence that this was probably the case in other departments. In the council’s internal telephone directory you could see how many were working in each department, and, for example, the “human resources” department had 85 persons listed.

Across all departments, the number of jobs whose titles gave no clue as to the “responsibilities” of the job holders, were numerous, and suggested that the need for those positions could be suspect.

Everyone seemed to have an assistant, and at most meetings that I went to, the assistant would be there alongside his boss. I have a suspicion that this culture within the public sector is similar across the country and is the same, I suspect, in my town of Skipton, where I was once a councillor.

In the mid-90s as I remember, there was a town clerk, a deputy town clerk (part-time) and possibly one or two other ad hoc part-time helpers.

Now Skipton Town Council has a chief officer, a town manager, an administration manager, a project manager, an administration officer, a civic administration officer and a town centre ambassador (supervisor).

All this for Skipton, which has a population of just 14,313 according to the 2001 census.

I have great sympathy for those who were seduced into the public sector by the last government, and who are protesting about the proposed cuts, but to be realistic there have to be significant cuts, and in my view most of these do not need to be to the “front line” services.