Monthly Archives: April 2010

Jury’s out on a hung Parliament, by Colin Copus

29 April 2010 | Colin Copus

With the polls continuing to show a three-horse race in the election, it’s worth considering whether a hung Parliament would be a good or a bad thing. Read more...

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The penny drops, by Alan Downey

29 April 2010 | Alan Downey

It seems that public sector employers have finally woken up to the scale of the financial challenge that is coming their way. Read more...

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Behind ‘Bigotgate’, by Melissa Benn

29 April 2010 | Melissa Benn
Commentators, to left and right,  have been quick to pounce on ‘Bigotgate’ as proof of  a profound gap between politicians and the ordinary voter in this election.  Labour in particular, they say, has failed to recognise the discontent in its own heartlands about immigration.
But no-one can seriously claim Labour has not talked about immigration in this election. In both of the  leaders’ debates, there has been a clear ‘tough line’ consensus on the issue,  with only the Liberal Democrats risking a rare show of tolerance with proposals for an amnesty for illegal overstayers.
No, all politicians have a bigger difficulty here.  Immigration is not an isolated issue; it is directly connected to jobs, education and housing. In a recession, with falling employment, pressure on public services,  and a real shortage of affordable housing, sensitivity to outsiders who appear to increase pressure on already inadequate resources is bound to be sky high.
But, of course, bigotry plays its part in the immigration debate,  not necessarily on Gillian Duffy’s part –   she began to complain about the flood of Eastern Europeans but was then distracted – but certainly by the BNP and the thousands drawn to vote for them.  And in this tightly fought election, there are tragically few in mainstream politics who are prepared to challenge it. 
The combined impact of these two elements -  the legitimate resentment felt by many heartland voters at scarce resources and growing inequality, and the role of racism and prejudice in responding to social and economic problems – is the key to the momentous proportions of yesterday’s gaffe.  
After thirteen years at the helm of power, it is impossible for Brown not to take the rap for the first;  with Labour now riding third in many of the polls, he simply dare not  publicly challenge the second.  
The oddest part of  Brown’s back of the car growl  (which incidentally, for all its obvious irritation, revealed a far more relaxed and authentic sounding Prime Minister) was surely his instant assessment that the exchange was a disaster. It wasn’t. It was a bruising, honest encounter, that he handled well enough. 
How much better then if he had found a way to both courteously and robustly counter the prejudice that, in his opinion, Gillian Duffy appeared to display rather than so disastrously vent his frustrations later. 
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A jungle out there, by Mike Thatcher

29 April 2010 | Mike Thatcher

Fleet Street’s finest were in shock this week when it turned out that none of the three main political parties had been completely open and frank about the true extent of the cuts that are awaiting us. Read more...

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Not examining the patient, by Victoria Macdonald

29 April 2010 | Victoria Macdonald

The NHS usually plays a starring role in general elections. But in this one there’s more interest in hung Parliaments than health check-ups Read more...

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‘Jobs tax’ cut not a wizard wheeze, by Colin Talbot

28 April 2010 | Colin Talbot

With the FT and IFS reports this week it is abundantly clear now to everyone what some of us have been saying for ages – this election is being fought with a big void where the truth about the public finances and spending cuts ought to be. But if what they are telling us about efficiency is anything to go by, we might not be much better off if they did start talking about “the cuts”. Read more...

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Economic geography lessons, by Katie Schmuecker

27 April 2010 | Katie Schmuecker

In recent days there has been considerable interest in how public spending is spread around the UK, after David Cameron identified areas like Northern Ireland and the North East as having a public sector that is ‘too big’.  Is he right?  Well, sort of. Read more...

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Leading questions, by John Tizard

27 April 2010 | John Tizard

The contemporary public sector managerial and political leaders have no choice but to work in partnership with others in the public sector, the business and third sectors and their staff.  Leadership through partnership requires special skills and competencies and, above all, the right mind-set.  Adopting the right behaviours is more important than applying specific techniques. Read more...

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Hidden fees, by Stephen Court

26 April 2010 | Stephen Court

University top-up fees were a very awkward electoral issue for the Labour government in the 2005 general election. So it is not surprising that in the present election campaign, fees have been kept at bay. The issue of whether full-time undergraduates should have to pay to go to university is still live – but not quite kicking, since the current review of fees, under Lord Browne, will not report until after the May election. Read more...

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Sorting senior salaries, by Duncan Brown

26 April 2010 | Duncan Brown

As election fever grips the British public, or at least the press, it’s a case of another week, another public sector senior manager pay ‘scandal’. This weekend it was The Observer railing against ‘scandalous’ bonuses for senior NHS managers of c£20,000, which the proverbial banker probably wouldn’t get out of bed for. One deputy chief executive received £32,000 after earning more that £1m in consulting income for her trust, which seems a pretty fair return to me.
But these bonuses were cited as key evidence of the wisdom of all three main parties’ pledges to ‘slash NHS management and bureaucracy’ and to protect ‘frontline’ professionals from cuts. Didn’t anyone tell them that performance-related and variable pay is a cornerstone of government pay policy?
But that’s not to say there aren’t serious issues with determining pay for senior managers across the public sector. Amid all of the pre-election hype, it was easy to miss an interim report on this subject published by the Senior Salaries Review Body last month, after the prime minister invited them just before Christmas to carry out a review (SSRB: Initial report on public sector senior remuneration 2010, report No. 74).
The report skilfully dissects the popular impressions with some salient facts and makes a number of cogent recommendations to improve the current ‘inconsistent’ situation, characterised by highly variable pay levels, remuneration practices and governance and reporting procedures.
The SSRB note that senior pay is a significant item of public sector expenditure and the public is therefore right to expect efficient management of it. It found that around 5,500 people across the public sector earn more than £150,000pa, which sounds a lot, although a similar number of bankers will have bonus earnings of over £1m this year.
And which part of the public sector has the most of these ‘fat cat bureaucrats’? Well yes, it is the NHS, but the largest group by far, of around 4,900 people, is in fact ‘frontline’ consultant medical staff. For senior managerial posts, the SSRB find that ‘in general, people in the public sector who are paid at these levels are carrying out highly responsible jobs, often delivering vital public services’.
But to address the inconsistencies that undoubtedly exist, the SSRB makes two highly sensible recommendations. First, it proposes the adoption of a code of practice for senior pay in the public sector, mirroring the Higgs code for the private sector. This code would ‘set out clearly and unambiguously for the whole public sector the principles and standards that are required’. The first draft of the principles enshrined in the code covers three areas: Read more...

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