On Tuesday we published new research that revealed the spending by local authorities on press officers. It is often claimed that local services are being squeezed, so the amount spent on these roles could be considered a low priority. Councils are employing an average of four press officers each. Several councils are then further spending taxpayers’ money on speeches and presentations with outside bodies.
Writing about the revelations in
ConservativeHome I highlighted the fact that
Sheffield city council employed 24 press
officers in 2018-19, the highest in the UK. Many local papers
featured our research and I have to draw particular attention to Derbyshire council and their desperate attempt at
spin: A council spokesperson said, "We do not recognise the figures given by the TaxPayers’ Alliance: The traditional 'press officer' role has not existed at Derbyshire County Council for more than 10 years". They then went on to say, "we employ 11.7 [full-time equivalent] communications officers". I doubt locals will be fooled by this douplespeak. It is of course useful for councils to communicate information about local services, but some residents may wonder if there is too much focus on fancy PR and not enough on fixing potholes and collecting bins. Some councils are able to keep residents up-to-date without bloated PR teams. Other councils should be following in their footsteps to ensure the best value for taxpayers' money. Let me know your thoughts on council press officers.
Burdens on business tour To promote The Bumper Book of Burdens on Business my colleague Kieran Neild and I will be attending further business exhibitions across the country. Tickets are free and you can find more details below.
North East
Expo South West Business Expo
Bureaucrat paid £2,000 per day to save money Extraordinary news this week as we learned that NHS chiefs have hired a management consultant at £2,000 per day in an effort to cut costs. According to The Sun, Phillip Burns was brought in by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales and one of his ideas is to "change break times for nurses from paid to unpaid". This would save £25,000 but not enough to make up for his alleged £40,000 monthly salary! Adding further insult to injury for taxpayers, he is allowed to work from his home in the Costa del Sol one day a week!
Our chief executive John O'Connell suggested a much better way to save money, "Patients and pressure groups have plenty of ideas for saving cash without the need for an expensive bureaucrat. The fastest way for Mr Burns to save money would be to sign his own P45 instead of sunning himself by the Spanish seaside." Has your NHS trust hired expensive "cost saving" consultants? Stop taking our money twice New TPA research on inheritance tax has recommended raising the threshold to £1 million (up from £350,000). Our research estimated 27,781 fewer estates in 2019-20 would be subject to the levy if the threshold was raised, rising to nearly 30,000 in 2020-21. In the long term this much hated tax should be abolished.
Our research director and author of the report, Duncan Simpson, wrote a piece for the Daily Express highlighting why raising the threshold is so important: "It [inheritance tax] discourages saving and encourages people to rearrange their assets in a less productive way, and is rightly viewed by the public as a "double tax". It is also fiendishly complicated: the Tolley's guide for this one tax is 1,100 pages... ditching the death tax should be the top priority of all parties to help hard-working families."
Why the free market will win the Rugby World Cup Sadly England didn't win the Rugby World Cup but ahead of yesterday's final our new media campaign manager Sam Packer examined the role that the state should play in sport. For example "stymying regulations" in rugby union ultimately led to the formation of rival rugby league. Writing about protectionism in the rugby world Sam writes: "The clubs in England and France are owned totally independently of their national federations, and, as in football, the domestic leagues are institutions separate from union control. In most other leading rugby nations, the control of rugby is centralised in the national federation and the federations either own (or partially own) the leading domestic sides. The freer markets of England and France dominate in terms of viewership, attendance and finance."
Sporting protectionism and restrictions reduce competition and quality, while massive government subsidy doesn’t offer anything like the popularity and participation rates which the free market can offer. Let me know if you'd like to write a guest blog.
NHS boss pockets £200k redundancy and then re-hired The Daily Mail reported that senior NHS boss Ian Stidson was made redundant from his role at Southend Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and was awarded £200,000 in severance pay. Reporter Jack Elsom reveals that Mr Stidson has since has joined Thurrock's CCG. Adding further insult to taxpayers, the two CCGs are set to merge and many are questioning the six-figure golden handshake. Our policy analyst Jeremy Hutton expressed his concern, "It is unfortunately not uncommon for senior public sector employees to receive eye-watering handouts on being made redundant. What is extraordinary, however, is for that same employee to return to effectively the same organisation." Email me your examples of wasteful spending.
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