What a lot of people don't seem to realize and understand about the cuts to Public services, is that it's not just to the headline rate of the funding.
The Government constantly repeats the notion that you can do more, with less, through both 'productivity' and efficiency savings.
However, the simple fact is that with less money going in, you can only do less.
As a result of having less money, services seek to cut their costs not only in the finances such as freezing pay and employing more quasi-police staff who are less well paid, but in a more subtle, sleight of hand way.
They try to change or offload their responsibilities; in a similar way to how the Police abandoned patrolling the Streets, jettisoned their responsibility for parking enforcement to Civil Authorities, farmed out their Motorway duties to the 'Highway Agency', turned their back on vehicle duty excise enforcement thereby leaving the DVLC to deal with it and continue the pretence that lost property is somehow, nothing to do with them.
All of that means a massive reduction in the cash needed to operate and present the image of reducing their budget, thus perpetuating the illusion that they are doing more, with less.
When of course in fact, they're actually doing less, with less.
As we are now discovering, it turns out that the Fire Brigade are indeed, no different.
Through de-regulation and privatization of building regulations, together with other changes and ways listed above, It appears that the responsibility for some fire safety checks was transferred from the Brigade, to a 'responsible' person.
It then turns out of course, that the number of staff available to do these checks, has also been cut.
Some 'expert' claimed that in some cases, instead of the Fire Brigade doing an assessment, they simply 'check' what an independent assessment says.
However, coupled with frontline service capability cuts in the Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance service at a time of a greatly increased population, it's both worrying and bizarre.
Government and Local Authorities used to look ahead, plan for predicted population growth, build Hospitals and Fire Stations accordingly and ensure the corresponding increase in staff.
Now all they do is cut funds and simply claim that you can do more with less.
All the services carry some responsibility though, as some of their problems are clearly self-inflicted.
They were given their own budget and told to go away and pretend to be a 'business'; a stupid proposition of course, however one which they all bought in to and went along with.
You can see the way they think; they started calling service users, e.g. someone whose house was on fire, a 'customer'.
You get 'customer service' managers and departments and like the Police, replaced Stations with 'service delivery' manager', 'performance' managers, consultants, a plethora of pen-pushing office wallahs and other wasters.
The bean counters who are now running these services, all think they are saving money.
But the irony in the sheer lunacy (see blog, Government charges itself 24/6/17) of having their own budget and independent resourcing is that it actually, costs more.
That's because they were previously centrally organized and resourced through central Government which is able to specify and issue Government procurement contracts, obviously with massive purchasing power at national and international level and at subsequent, substantial savings.
However, these self-run, quasi-business local services have to effectively simply go shopping in W.H. Smith to get what they need, whereas they would at one time have been resourced from HMSO of course.
They also need a duplicated army of staff to evaluate, procure, purchase, finance and account for equipment.
And of course, the services outsourced to private companies, all carry a built on profit margin.
People wonder why, at a time or natural disasters or national emergencies, we don't have the ability to respond; but we used to.
Clearly what they don't realize, is that the capability has been removed and disposed of.
We used to have a Civil Defence force in the 1950's and 60's, as a stand-alone, independent resource and reserve, for just such.
However, now these services are run like a 'business', just like a business they do a cost/benefit assessment which basically then say we don't want to pay for something which is going to stand idle and only be used occasionally.
It's basically the same reason why Britain comes to a standstill if there's so much as a stiff breeze in winter.
Airports don't invest in snow ploughs and local Councils have reduced the capacity of their road gritting fleets.
It's all very well and good all these services and local Councils having a 'corporate resilience' or 'emergency' plans and committees, no doubt with highly paid academic people in charge, who actually know nothing in real life.
You'd normally call these the 'all the gear and no idea' brigade.
However, whatever they like to call themselves it's all pointless and they're all impotent, as apart from they don't have the capability, they don't have the actual capacity to deal with any such potentiality.
Hence why people were essentially left to their own devices after they had been burned out of their own homes, in the Grenfall tower disaster. (See blog, Chickens coming home to roost. Unfortunately, in a tower block 18/6/17).
There was no official relief work on the ground because for one, despite all the fancy but worthless 'mission statements' on the wall and published plans, the people in charge at the local Council don't actually know what they're doing; and two, they simply do not have either the resources or capacity to do anything, either.
So you see, you can't actually do more with less.
You can't even maintain the same with less, either.
You can in fact, only do less, with less.
Simple mathematics and common sense.
And as it turns out, sadly proven.
W.J.J.
The Government constantly repeats the notion that you can do more, with less, through both 'productivity' and efficiency savings.
However, the simple fact is that with less money going in, you can only do less.
As a result of having less money, services seek to cut their costs not only in the finances such as freezing pay and employing more quasi-police staff who are less well paid, but in a more subtle, sleight of hand way.
They try to change or offload their responsibilities; in a similar way to how the Police abandoned patrolling the Streets, jettisoned their responsibility for parking enforcement to Civil Authorities, farmed out their Motorway duties to the 'Highway Agency', turned their back on vehicle duty excise enforcement thereby leaving the DVLC to deal with it and continue the pretence that lost property is somehow, nothing to do with them.
All of that means a massive reduction in the cash needed to operate and present the image of reducing their budget, thus perpetuating the illusion that they are doing more, with less.
When of course in fact, they're actually doing less, with less.
As we are now discovering, it turns out that the Fire Brigade are indeed, no different.
Through de-regulation and privatization of building regulations, together with other changes and ways listed above, It appears that the responsibility for some fire safety checks was transferred from the Brigade, to a 'responsible' person.
It then turns out of course, that the number of staff available to do these checks, has also been cut.
Some 'expert' claimed that in some cases, instead of the Fire Brigade doing an assessment, they simply 'check' what an independent assessment says.
However, coupled with frontline service capability cuts in the Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance service at a time of a greatly increased population, it's both worrying and bizarre.
Government and Local Authorities used to look ahead, plan for predicted population growth, build Hospitals and Fire Stations accordingly and ensure the corresponding increase in staff.
Now all they do is cut funds and simply claim that you can do more with less.
All the services carry some responsibility though, as some of their problems are clearly self-inflicted.
They were given their own budget and told to go away and pretend to be a 'business'; a stupid proposition of course, however one which they all bought in to and went along with.
You can see the way they think; they started calling service users, e.g. someone whose house was on fire, a 'customer'.
You get 'customer service' managers and departments and like the Police, replaced Stations with 'service delivery' manager', 'performance' managers, consultants, a plethora of pen-pushing office wallahs and other wasters.
The bean counters who are now running these services, all think they are saving money.
But the irony in the sheer lunacy (see blog, Government charges itself 24/6/17) of having their own budget and independent resourcing is that it actually, costs more.
That's because they were previously centrally organized and resourced through central Government which is able to specify and issue Government procurement contracts, obviously with massive purchasing power at national and international level and at subsequent, substantial savings.
However, these self-run, quasi-business local services have to effectively simply go shopping in W.H. Smith to get what they need, whereas they would at one time have been resourced from HMSO of course.
They also need a duplicated army of staff to evaluate, procure, purchase, finance and account for equipment.
And of course, the services outsourced to private companies, all carry a built on profit margin.
People wonder why, at a time or natural disasters or national emergencies, we don't have the ability to respond; but we used to.
Clearly what they don't realize, is that the capability has been removed and disposed of.
We used to have a Civil Defence force in the 1950's and 60's, as a stand-alone, independent resource and reserve, for just such.
However, now these services are run like a 'business', just like a business they do a cost/benefit assessment which basically then say we don't want to pay for something which is going to stand idle and only be used occasionally.
It's basically the same reason why Britain comes to a standstill if there's so much as a stiff breeze in winter.
Airports don't invest in snow ploughs and local Councils have reduced the capacity of their road gritting fleets.
It's all very well and good all these services and local Councils having a 'corporate resilience' or 'emergency' plans and committees, no doubt with highly paid academic people in charge, who actually know nothing in real life.
You'd normally call these the 'all the gear and no idea' brigade.
However, whatever they like to call themselves it's all pointless and they're all impotent, as apart from they don't have the capability, they don't have the actual capacity to deal with any such potentiality.
Hence why people were essentially left to their own devices after they had been burned out of their own homes, in the Grenfall tower disaster. (See blog, Chickens coming home to roost. Unfortunately, in a tower block 18/6/17).
There was no official relief work on the ground because for one, despite all the fancy but worthless 'mission statements' on the wall and published plans, the people in charge at the local Council don't actually know what they're doing; and two, they simply do not have either the resources or capacity to do anything, either.
So you see, you can't actually do more with less.
You can't even maintain the same with less, either.
You can in fact, only do less, with less.
Simple mathematics and common sense.
And as it turns out, sadly proven.
W.J.J.
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