Waste not......?

[voron]

Chico: the problem isn't limited to the top senior civil servants. The problem exists at all levels, right down to the office weirdo doing the photocopying. Put simply, there is no performance management within the British public sector. Personal objectives are fuzzy, and as for deadlines, as Douglas Adams said, they make a lovely whooshing noise as they go past.

Owlhoot: Despite Gershon and Lyons, I see scant evidence that the public sector headcount is reducing. They reduce in one area and recruit in another. Home Office IND is currently running a massive recruitment campaign...

[threaded]

voron: Hmm, that is a difficult one. In Denmark something like a third of the working population works for the state and half the GDP goes on providing more services to its citizens. For example I get my chimney swept by a chap, in a truely fine uniform, paid for out of my "rates", but he doesn't work for the council. There are many examples like this. The fire brigade and ambulance is provided by a private company "Falck" (who also do breakdown recovery, private security and build windmills, but you have to pay for that). An awful lot of people are in work-fare type jobs, so what would be quite high unemployment is hidden.

Yet a civil service manager has much greater autonomy. He can, for example, come directly to me and get some tool written for his group, paid for from his budget.

I would say it is more efficient and does quite a lot more.

[Joe Bloggs]

Now we know what our taxes are spent on......on ourselves!!!

Well, given that I've just been contacted about doing another 6 month role for a well known govt dept that I've worked for on 3-4 occasions now, you might just be right...

[Joe Bloggs]

We are not necessarily a threat to larger projects, but the big firms are greedy. They want every bum on every seat to be one of theirs. There are some 150,000 independant contractors in the UK (give or take a few) and at 1K per day that is a lot of money for EDS et al.
Not only that, but when local Govt. sees how good we can be then they WILL give bigger projects to smaller firms.
We are quite capable of bringing together lots of contractors to implement bigger and bigger schemes.

I'd agree with the first part, in my experience big consultancies tend to have parasitic/viral properties, where each consultant tends to promote the possibility for more of their consultants to 'come on board'.

As for the latter, well in my experience of working for the govt/public sector it sometimes simply doesn't matter how good you are, or how many times you show savings which could be made...sometimes its like trying to guide a supertanker into port with nothing more than a canoe.

[Lucifer Box]

It is true to say that whether private or public sector, no consultant ever said, "carry on as you are, you're doing just fine here and there's not much value I can add for you".

[voron]

It is true to say that whether private or public sector, no consultant ever said, "carry on as you are, you're doing just fine here and there's not much value I can add for you".

I think you'll find there is one...

[The Late, Great JC]

I think you'll find there is one...

How is the Salvation Army soup kitchen?

[Lucifer Box]

I think you'll find there is one...

Voron, perhaps you need a client focussed consultant such as myself to accompany you to your next pitch meeting? Don't worry, I'll split the proceeds with you.

Remember, the "right" solution for the client is the one they're not using.

[voron]

How is the Salvation Army soup kitchen?

Minestrone last night. Tonight I plan to visit the local skip to get some new clothes.

[wendigo100]

Gordon Brown stated on Radio Five Live yesterday morning that his government had reduced the number of civil servants by 80,000.