What Public service wastages do you see?

kabayiri

Outsourcing lots of public sector IT to the likes of EDS, Cap, and Fujitsu was not a particularly cost effective idea way back when. We are still paying through the nose for the service of these people, but on daily rates which make for sobering reading.

Has it improved the IT delivery? Doesn't seem like it. They are often over budget and late.

Degenerate

michaels wrote: »

And I completely agree with you that those doing the job have the knowledge about what it entails but I do not have the type of consultant role where I turn up with no knowledge and suggest a better way of doing things; generally it is just a matter of helping those on the ground structure their ideas or dig deeply in to their datasets which they may not have time to do themselves or necessarily as strong database and data analysis skills as they already have a full time job to do that doesn't resolve entirely around data and process.

You're describing a consultancy role where you apply specialist knowledge you gained from working in a particular field to assist others in the field to improve their own processes. This is what consultancy should be about. I don't think anyone would really have a problem with this or regard it as a waste of money.

Generally when people complain about consultants, I think they're talking about the current breed of management consultants. These parasitical beings charge their time at extortionate rates whilst achieving "efficiencies" by virtue of the fact that they can happily sacrifice long-term risk for short-term gains as they will not be around to face the consequences. They are used as a tool by cretinous managers whose own tenure is similarly short term, as they move like locusts from post to post, avoiding responsibility for their misdeeds.

Eventually the excrement hits the extractor and someone has to clean up the mess. When it happens in government it's the taxpayer that picks up the tab.

datostar

********* Homes Ltd. is a company wholly owned by the Borough Council where I live. It administers what used to be known as Council Housing, along with sheltered blocks of flats for older people etc. One such block is within a Conservation Area. Recently, a terrible eyesore of a structure was erected on a pleasant grassed area in front of this block. A reinforced concrete pad about 2 feet thick, surrounded by a wooden stockade. Very much like an emplacement for an anti-aircraft gun. Evidently the intention was to place a number of metal sheds inside the emplacement for the storage of mobility scooters which are no longer, for Elf 'n' Safety reasons, to be allowed to be kept in corridors or communal areas.
Unfortunately, this public body overlooked the fact that Planning Permission is needed for such structures, and that particularly where Conservation Areas are concerned, developments should 'enhance the area'.
Once brought to the attention of the Council Planning Department, work was stopped immediately (about 3 weeks of it up to then) and the whole unsightly affair has now been demolished (5 days solid including 3 days of a big jackhammer on the end of an excavator arm to break all the concrete).
I shudder to think how many thousands of pounds have been utterly wasted here.

bear1969

loads of council vans sitting at the side of road with occupants sleeping or drinking tea

Primrose

datostar - and the annoying thing in this case is that probably the individual who was in charge of this operation is obviously incompetent in not having sufficient knowledge of the area in which they are operating. Yet will he/she be disciplined? You can bet your bottom dollar not!

Andy_L

kabayiri wrote: »

Outsourcing lots of public sector IT to the likes of EDS, Cap, and Fujitsu was not a particularly cost effective idea way back when. We are still paying through the nose for the service of these people, but on daily rates which make for sobering reading.

Has it improved the IT delivery? Doesn't seem like it. They are often over budget and late.

Generally true, although I've seen the opposite - keeping IT in house becasue "John knows about computers - he can write that database, that'll save us some cash" and its a disaster because John doesn't actually know enough about computers or the difference between the requirements of enterprise and domestic software

dori2o

How about the HMRC contact centre manager who was declared bankrupt prior to being 'given' their new position to the tune of £70k. Their last position was with one of the well known high street banks. He was given the current job by the person in charge of contact centres, who also used to work for the same high street bank, and is now on a salary of ........ you guessed it.....£70k, the highest paid CC manager.

This is the major problem with HMRC. The majority of those making the decisions are not from inside the business, they are from the private sector, mainly financial sector, and have no idea how tax is dealt with. They then see fit to bring with them the same processes for back office work as was in place in their previous job. I'm sorry, but the processes thjat apply to banks do not work in Back office, or contact centres within taxes, hence why now people are waiting over 15 minutes a time on the phoine, and HMRC have a 10 week backlog with post. The systems in place do not work.

The new computer system was built and designed without any input from those who would actually use it. It doies not work, no matter how much senior management try and convince us that 'it is working to design', it is not fit for purpose. It updates information incorrectly without being prompted to do so, sends out erroneous letters and codes, and is an absolute nightmare.

The Gov't need to get back to the old ways of promoting from within, keep people with the knowledge of how things work in the business, give people within the business hope that they can go from the bottom grade to the top grade, cause at the moment, if you work in HMRC there is little chance of promotion above the 3rd or 4th grade as these jobs sseem to be saved for those from the private sector.

twirlypinky

Chaos_A.D. wrote: »

twirlypinky wrote: »

Well it hasn't long since changed that's for sure, still if it has, that's progress I guess.

Since Agenda for change came into play in 2004, annual incremental pay rises are linked to performance.

To be honest, the pension is a bit good really, but then the wages are crap, so you win some you lose some.

carolt

dori2o wrote: »

How about the HMRC contact centre manager who was declared bankrupt prior to being 'given' their new position to the tune of £70k. Their last position was with one of the well known high street banks. He was given the current job by the person in charge of contact centres, who also used to work for the same high street bank, and is now on a salary of ........ you guessed it.....£70k, the highest paid CC manager.

This is the major problem with HMRC. The majority of those making the decisions are not from inside the business, they are from the private sector, mainly financial sector, and have no idea how tax is dealt with. They then see fit to bring with them the same processes for back office work as was in place in their previous job. I'm sorry, but the processes thjat apply to banks do not work in Back office, or contact centres within taxes, hence why now people are waiting over 15 minutes a time on the phoine, and HMRC have a 10 week backlog with post. The systems in place do not work.

The new computer system was built and designed without any input from those who would actually use it. It doies not work, no matter how much senior management try and convince us that 'it is working to design', it is not fit for purpose. It updates information incorrectly without being prompted to do so, sends out erroneous letters and codes, and is an absolute nightmare.

The Gov't need to get back to the old ways of promoting from within, keep people with the knowledge of how things work in the business, give people within the business hope that they can go from the bottom grade to the top grade, cause at the moment, if you work in HMRC there is little chance of promotion above the 3rd or 4th grade as these jobs sseem to be saved for those from the private sector.

I was saying yesterday to my OH that the real problem with the HMRC is that all the best people know they can get much higher salaries if they turn poacher instead of gamekeeper.

My brother started work as a young, unemployed, barely qualified man aged 19. After a few years working there, he joined a tax accountancy firm, and worked his way up. They saw his potential and trained him up. He's now been a tax accountant for many years, helping the rich avoid paying taxes, but makes so many times what he could ever have earned if he'd stayed at the Inland Revenue (as was), that it's hard to know how they could have attracted him to stay. As you say, the career prospects/salaries aren't there.

If you're going to be trying to get tax off people who can afford to pay specialists to avoid tax, you need to be able to attract people at least as good to fight them.

robin_banks

carolt wrote: »

I was saying yesterday to my OH that the real problem with the HMRC is that all the best people know they can get much higher salaries if they turn poacher instead of gamekeeper.

My brother started work as a young, unemployed, barely qualified man aged 19. After a few years working there, he joined a tax accountancy firm, and worked his way up. They saw his potential and trained him up. He's now been a tax accountant for many years, helping the rich avoid paying taxes, but makes so many times what he could ever have earned if he'd stayed at the Inland Revenue (as was), that it's hard to know how they could have attracted him to stay. As you say, the carrer prospects/salaries aren't there.

If you're going to be trying to get tax off people who can afford to pay specialists to avoid tax, you need to be able to attract people at least as good to fight them.

Yep, agree entirely I knew one guy who charged £120.00 an hour to clients, this was in 2003.