We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Debate House Prices


In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non MoneySaving matters are no longer permitted. This includes wider debates about general house prices, the economy and politics. As a result, we have taken the decision to keep this board permanently closed, but it remains viewable for users who may find some useful information in it. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

culling begins...

1234568

Comments

  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 13,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Private and public sector are completely different business models - there are billions of pounds worth of waste in the private sector (for a glaring example go and look in supermarket bins), but it's all costed into the price we pay.

    Public sector receive a budget in April and have to deliver one year's services with that budget. Long term financial planning (5+ years) in the public sector will never happen as policiticians are involved at local and national level and they make decisions based on the length of time they have left in office and any changes in politicans can see budgets ripped up (as we are seeing).
  • The report from Green is little more than a softening-up excercise. Many of the example he quotes are hardly evidence of massive incompetence - e.g. paying for London hotel rooms at £77-117 or govt paid £300-odd for one laptop and £2k for another. Well, I would expect hotel rates to vary quite a bit and similarly laptop prices can vary massively depending on specification.
    I was also very concerned to hear that much of his proposed savings would come from extending the payment terms to private suppliers. Nice one if you want to put the suppliers out of business.

    There is no doubt that a lot of money could be saved by centralised purchasing, but last government and current government both seem keen on devolving purchasing.....
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    Nothing wrong with devolving purchasing, but from my experience the people who make the decisions do not have a clue about how to get the best deal and get regularly taken for a ride.
  • olly300
    olly300 Posts: 14,738 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hauptmann wrote: »
    The report from Green is little more than a softening-up excercise. Many of the example he quotes are hardly evidence of massive incompetence - e.g. paying for London hotel rooms at £77-117 or govt paid £300-odd for one laptop and £2k for another. Well, I would expect hotel rates to vary quite a bit and similarly laptop prices can vary massively depending on specification.
    Agreed.

    I want to actually read the report and see what the spec was for those laptops.

    Also the London hotel rooms mentioned doesn't indicate when the hotel rooms where booked i.e. January compared to summer.

    Plus the printing mentioned of £8 versus £73 doesn't indicate whether the stationary was actually the same and how urgent the order was.
    Hauptmann wrote: »
    I was also very concerned to hear that much of his proposed savings would come from extending the payment terms to private suppliers. Nice one if you want to put the suppliers out of business.
    He's not adding into the fact that the government departments pay late anyway.

    If government departments extend payment terms then the price will actually go up not down as less and less companies will want to deal with them.
    Hauptmann wrote: »
    There is no doubt that a lot of money could be saved by centralised purchasing, but last government and current government both seem keen on devolving purchasing.....
    That's because we know devolved purchasing stops some wastage. There is no point giving everyone a £2K laptop when only one person needs it and the rest can have a £300 one to do their job.
    I'm not cynical I'm realistic :p

    (If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)
  • antrobus wrote: »
    That's a joke right?

    Please tell me it's a joke.

    Yeah you got me banged to rights! It was a joke.
    LBGT? Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transexual Green Outreach and Environmental Educational Co-Ordinator? So you produce shiny leaflets telling them how to get bin bags?

    If only I could get a job doing that :)
  • vivatifosi
    vivatifosi Posts: 18,746 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! PPI Party Pooper
    antrobus wrote: »
    It's more like 2.25 million.


    2.927m in local government according to ONS. Total public sector = 6.069m. See: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/pse0910.pdf
    Please stay safe in the sun and learn the A-E of melanoma: A = asymmetry, B = irregular borders, C= different colours, D= diameter, larger than 6mm, E = evolving, is your mole changing? Most moles are not cancerous, any doubts, please check next time you visit your GP.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Wheezy wrote: »
    A guy whose business empire is based on 3rd world exploitation and child labour, then flogs it off here, paying his shop staff a pittance, then ships the profit out of the country to avoid taxation, who gets knighted for his 'contributions' to the British Empire....and you waffle about bigger issues and labour this and labour that? :)


    PS: Yes there is wastage, lots of it. And yes, it should be sorted.

    And your view on Richard Branson?
  • Wheezy wrote: »
    Is that the same Phillip Green who set up his missus in Monaco to pay her over a billion in dividend in order to avoid paying a single penny of tax on it over here?

    and what is wrong with that? she lives in monaco. he pays uk tax on his uk income. what about the thousands of jobs he has created and all the tax his employees and companies pay?

    the guy is a money saving expert. nothing illegal or immoral in what he does.

    anyone that says that they would do different is either poor or a liar, or possibly both.
  • Masomnia
    Masomnia Posts: 19,506 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yeah you got me banged to rights! It was a joke.



    If only I could get a job doing that :)

    Shame, I was looking forward to hearing you trying to justify your job! :p
    “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” - P.G. Wodehouse
  • antrobus
    antrobus Posts: 17,386 Forumite
    vivatifosi wrote: »
    2.927m in local government according to ONS. Total public sector = 6.069m. See: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/pse0910.pdf

    I got my figures from the Local Government Association. They count the people who work for their members i.e. councils, so I don't expect they include the police or fire service because they work for a different kind of authority.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.5K Life & Family
  • 258.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.