The independent body, which is responsible for scrutinising public spending, blamed an “adversarial” Whitehall culture for a Spending Review process that pits departments against each other and “do[es] not support overall value for money”.
It added that this culture had become “entrenched”, with decisions on spending that were often “rushed” and focused on big “good news” announcements rather than delivering for taxpayers.
It added that even once projects had been approved, ministers and civil servants were often “reluctant to accept bad news” when budgets are blown or projects delayed.
What they mean is that the cash gets pissed away on what gives the Minister a good announcement to make.
Mazzonomics isn’t going to change that.
So, they’re telling us that the gov’t does a terrible job of “investing” the peoples’ money, fair enough. But these are the same people who say we should be shoveling tons more money to the gov’t, have I got that right?
Apparently, ministers & civil servants should be happy when budgets are blown & projects are delayed.
” that pits departments against each other and “do[es] not support overall value for money”.
That used to be the way in my old employer so I guess it’s the same in other companies?
If head of department A can save £20K he’ll get a nice bonus, even if his decision means department F ends up with £30K loss and the company £10K less profit.
Golly gosh gee whillikers, is there no leader to address this problem? There must be a prime person somewhere in government to administer a solution.
I imagine the next thing we will hear is how this ‘independent’ body should be given more powers to deal with the terrible situation
True, Addolff. Plus the promised “savings” are often just fiddling metrics and don’t really exist. So it’s a double whammy.