The Conservative Party

Mr Kobayashi said:
I said not as big a problem. By taking it as seriously as the Tories want you to do, you buy into the narrative that we can no longer afford decent public services and the only way out is mass privatisation.

Household and company debt represents a huge risk, more companies going into administration and liquidation, job losses and less disposable income for people to pay their bills or make discretionary purchases to keep the economy ticking over.

Covid was a war time event in peace time and required a colossal effort, unfortunately it is difficult to get value for money when their is a pervasive attitude of private sector knows best and a culture of political graft in the case of the PPE VIP fastlane.
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So the question is why are the likes of Labour proposing to raise taxes or at least continue with them when there is such a clear colossal mismanagement of public funds? They could raise tens of billions just by reallocating funds which fall into the black hole but I haven't seen any real effort or mention of finding the holes.

The climate at the minute is almost like yes we need to spend to grow and we need lots more money but only because of the perception that it's not enough. No-one seems to care that in some cases it actually is enough but we're not spending it correctly.

I sit between the narrative you mentioned, public services are almost certainly unaffordable and potentially not fit for purpose if a massive portion of funding is going to waste. It's not acceptable to just put more money into it and call that the only policy, it's the same analogy as using a bucket of water to remove water in a ship full of holes.

The private sector automatically is against this kind of waste because it impacts profits which is why just in terms of efficiency privatisation can be and often is superior. I'm not in favour of privatisation in all cases though, if it impacts service levels as is happening on the railways then absolutely not.
 
inbetween said:
The private sector automatically is against this waste because it impacts profits which in terms of efficiency privatisation can be superior. I'm not in favour of privatisation in all cases though, if it impacts service levels as is happening on the railways then absolutely not.
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A false assumption, there are plenty of companies that use wasteful and outdated practices.

Private companies are very good at wasting public money, I previously worked in the children's services dept and saw the extortionate amounts charged by placements.

Public sector departments with limited budgets don't tend to waste money, everything has to go through purchase order process, three quotes, financial challenges if over a certain threshold and will be stingy when allocating resources out.

Public services aren't good at generating additional revenue but then the point of public services isn't primarily to generate revenue.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
A false assumption, there are plenty of companies that use wasteful and outdated practices.

Private companies are very good at wasting public money, I previously worked in the children's services dept and saw the extortionate amounts charged by placements.

Public sector departments with limited budgets don't tend to waste money, everything has to go through purchase order process, three quotes, financial challenges if over a certain threshold and will be stingy when allocating resources out.

Public services aren't good at generating additional revenue but then the point of public services isn't primarily to generate revenue.
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As well as presenting a business case on top of the quotes etc. I was part of a Civil Service project team working with a Private Sector company. They approached me wanting £35000 to complete an asset register which was 90% complete. I thought they’d put the decimal point in the wrong place. I knocked it back and got it completed by approving overtime which came to £800. Responsibility towards the public purse is something both I and many others take very seriously.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
A false assumption, there are plenty of companies that use wasteful and outdated practices.

Private companies are very good at wasting public money, I previously worked in the children's services dept and saw the extortionate amounts charged by placements.

Public sector departments with limited budgets don't tend to waste money, everything has to go through purchase order process, three quotes, financial challenges if over a certain threshold and will be stingy when allocating resources out.

Public services aren't good at generating additional revenue but then the point of public services isn't primarily to generate revenue.
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Private solutions often work short term.
Once they've got their feet under the table however,the quality drops and the charges,for their services goes up.
 
inbetween said:
So the question is why are the likes of Labour proposing to raise taxes or at least continue with them when there is such a clear colossal mismanagement of public funds? They could raise tens of billions just by reallocating funds which fall into the black hole but I haven't seen any real effort or mention of finding the holes.

The climate at the minute is almost like yes we need to spend to grow and we need lots more money but only because of the perception that it's not enough. No-one seems to care that in some cases it actually is enough but we're not spending it correctly.

I sit between the narrative you mentioned, public services are almost certainly unaffordable and potentially not fit for purpose if a massive portion of funding is going to waste. It's not acceptable to just put more money into it and call that the only policy, it's the same analogy as using a bucket of water to remove water in a ship full of holes.

The private sector automatically is against this kind of waste because it impacts profits which is why just in terms of efficiency privatisation can be and often is superior. I'm not in favour of privatisation in all cases though, if it impacts service levels as is happening on the railways then absolutely not.
Click to expand...
Every conservative PM I’ve ever known arrives telling us they will find and cut waste, they never do. Is it possible that apart from on a small scale that colossal waste isn’t really there and privat companies wouldn’t find it either. Maybe public services and just very expensive to run.
I’m sure in the past I’ve read management of our NHS is far cheaper than any private schemes around the world.
 
Private companies exist to maximise profit. In fact, they are under a legal obligation to maximise profits if a PLC. Maximising profit is not always achieved by providing the best possible service so that customers flock to you. Markets are not perfect and are often inflexible.

Public services are not, and should not be, about maximising profit. They ought to be about providing a high-quality service within the constraints of their budget.

When services are 'outsourced' what happens is that a contract is drawn up. Public sector staff are not notably good at this - mostly they lack the expertise. The contractor then delivers to contract (at best) often doing the absolute minimum to meet the standard. The public sector still has to pay staff to ensure the service is, more or less, delivered. Far from reducing bureaucracy, this process creates more. It is a piss-poor system and almost always bad value for money.
 
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