That Spending Challenge... and the odd answers

Or the heating turned down in Government buildings to reduce the bills and encourage civil servants to buy English suits?

They may not be quite what David Cameron was looking for when he invited the public to suggest how to cut public spending but these are among some of the more eyebrow-raising of the 100,000 proposals put forward.

Ranging from the interesting – which will be seriously considered by Ministers as they carry out the autumn spending review – to the bizarre and extreme, those suggestions which made it past the moderators have now been posted online for the public to have their say.

The Prime Minister has made great play of the popularity of the Spending Challenge site – praising some of the "great" ideas – although just how many of the ideas put forward could end up being implemented remains a matter for serious conjecture.

Among those which may be taken seriously are proposals from public sector workers to renegotiate IT and mobile phone deals, the sharing of support services such as human resources and finance by government departments and capping severance payments for senior civil servants.

A host of contributors also suggest reforms to the winter fuel allowance, particularly for high earners, amid mounting speculation this week that Ministers are seriously considering slashing benefits for the middle classes as they seek to reduce the budget deficit.

Other suggestions include merging this region's four police forces and fire services, scrapping tourism organisation Welcome to Yorkshire and abandoning expensive and controversial waste projects in South and North Yorkshire – and abandoning plans for a high-speed rail network.

However other ideas may find they are consigned to the dustbin fairly rapidly.

Several suggestions advocated a return to capital punishment – "Get rid of the scum in society so they don't cost us anything", says one – and a host of proposals regarding offenders included hooking up exercise machinery in prisons to the National Grid to generate power.

Cutting down on wasted electricity was another popular theme, with one suggestion to "ask bus drivers (who cover a lot of the roads in all areas of the UK) to report lights switched on during daylight hours to the relevant local council to arrange for someone to go out and check the lights ... to get them switched off and save electrical power".

Another suggested that the heating in government buildings should be kept to 16C in winter, to save money but also because it would "encourage people to wear proper English-made suits" thereby boosting "northern industrial towns like Huddersfield".

Not all ideas appear to fit the bill for making speedy savings to repair the economy, though.

"All welfare spending should cease immediately and the money saved diverted to the military in order to build a significant nuclear arsenal that the French and communists don't snigger at," said one person.

Until the end of this month, visitors to the Spending Challenge website – set up by the Treasury in an attempt to keep voters onside as deep spending cuts are made – will be able to rate the ideas from one to five stars.

About 67,000 of the 107,000 suggestions received came from public sector workers.

Before the General Election, now Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Sheffield Hallam MP, warned of the risk of Greek-style riots if deep spending cuts were imposed without public support.

Speaking earlier this month, Mr Cameron floated two ideas put forward through the website – including allowing doctors to take single criminal record checks that would be valid to cover every hospital and stopping free appeals against visa rejections.

The site can be accessed at www. spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

TESTING THE REGION

Remove Humberside as a police force, and merge it into Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire. This "is a natural step and would probably save millions in the appointment of the top officers that work for Humberside".

n Scrap Welcome to Yorkshire to allow private firms to run websites listing providers of accommodation and other tourist attractions.

Have a single council in North Yorkshire, rather than a county authority and several districts.

Regionalise Yorkshire and Humberside fire services.

Review activities of National Park authorities such as North York

Moors and the Yorkshire Dales.

Merge Yorkshire with North East and North West government office regions.

Cut a 77.4m Private Finance Initiative deal for a waste project in Manvers, South Yorkshire, and ditch a proposed incinerator for North Yorkshire.

TESTING THE NATION

Government departments to share support functions such as HR, information services and finance to cut administration costs.

Renegotiate government IT contracts.

Make criminal record checks transferable across hospitals for NHS employees, rather than junior doctors having to have new ones each time they move.

Get better mobile phone contracts to stop paying over the odds.

Stop MPs and councillors getting paid twice if they hold two or more roles.

Cap severance payments for public sector chief executives.

Charge foreign hauliers for using UK roads.

Stop printing internal publications and send them electronically instead.

Allow staff to book items like train tickets and hotel rooms from the cheapest place rather than being tied into expensive contracts.

Police to use cheaper cars.

Turn computers off at night to reduce energy use.

TESTING THE CREDIBILITY

MPs to wear sponsorship like football players, with proceeds used to pay down the deficit.

Charge drivers 10 to use the "car park" M25.

Capital punishment for murderers and terrorists.

Privatise universities.

Abolish all security at UK airports.

Cut alcohol duty "because then the entire country will be drunk most of the time and no one will notice or care how terrible the government is doing".

Charge for doctors' appointments so people do not go for minor things.

MPs to sit in parliament for only four days a month and earn a wage in a private job the rest of the time.

Politicians to stop going on television so much so BBC can close down its News Channel.

Cheaper car tax for vehicles which go faster.

Abolish cash in favour of a government card to which benefits and tax are credited or deducted.

Mandatory gun ownership for civilians to deter criminals an d open the country up to weapons manufacturers.

Tax breaks for parents who choose not to have children.