Re: OT - School spent 35k on photocopier worth 1k


How about auditing all public sector spending at once and how about acting
on the subsequent reports - even if they mean "painful" decisions must be
made?  


Therein describes the complete failure of the public sector you have
to bring in outside consultants (managers) to do what the bloody
existing management should already be doing.

The public sector will never ever deliver on the bottom line whilst it
doesn’t have to, whilst it is not subjected to any competition.

Public sector schools enjoy both a monopoly and, for the most part, a
captive market and that’s why they’re ***, by any measure, when
compared to the private sector.


I truly believe, however, that significant savings could be made without any
staff losses - the only "casualties" would be the egos of some of the idiots
that run departments and decide the spending of budgets.


Too late.

Reform is inevitably expensive in the short term

New Labour (Tony) wanted to deliver reform and productivity
improvements alongside increased spending on education.

Gordon put a block on reform, he’s an old fashioned centrist command
and control spender (a Stalinist basically) he just wanted to increase
spending.

Now, in an atmosphere of cuts, reform will not deliver savings quickly
enough so it inevitably will be painful cuts at the front end.

The last thirteen years amount to no more than a tragic missed
opportunity to deliver a world-class education system though certainly
not a missed opportunity to deliver the cost of one.


Of course, insane waste goes on in the private sector too, but at least
customers have a choice if prices are too high.

I dread the Tories coming into power as the first thing they will do is hive
another load of stuff off to the "private sector" which basically means a
few business owners will get rich by cutting staff pay and pension rights


The private sector is not perfect and will be no better at schools if
the state education market is not opened up to choice.

If parents were put in control, as they should be, the education
system would become unrecognisable from the wishy washy PC Guardian
reading led entity it has become, where delivering a good education,
rather than good indoctrination, is well down the priority list.

The evidence for the private sector on terms and conditions is
actually very good, good teachers would have nothing to fear from the
private sector (where salaries are already higher) they would prosper
like never before.

Go ask the train drivers.

In the days of British Rail, train drivers could often be heard
complaining of how they had to get up at some unearthly hour to
deliver some bunch of nineteen year old office temps to their work
place, a nine-o’clock start and a higher salary.

Nowadays, Virgin train drivers knock up £60K, with overtime i.e. a
four-day week instead of the three-day one required.

Of course, if you were a middle manger Virgin has not been such good
news because your job probably disappeared, never even got to wear the
uniform.
.

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