The Department for Communities and Local Government, led by our esteemed Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, has produced a list of 50 ways that councils can save money. The list is certainly very long; I hope the civil servants didn’t spend too much time and public money compiling it?!
Clearly, all we have to do now is follow this list, put all 50 points into practice and – hey presto! – our financial problems will be solved.
Or maybe not. Many of the 50 things on the list we are doing already; the phrase ‘teaching grandma to suck eggs’ springs to mind. Other suggestions on the list are of arguable value; some probably wouldn’t save any money, others would unfairly marginalise groups in our city, while others would involve a huge risk for the Council.
Let me be clear: I am absolutely committed to saving money wherever and whenever I can. As I’ve discussed on this blog before, I firmly believe that the Council can make better use of its assets, and I intend to make them ‘sweat’. And I have challenged all parts of the Council to look at how they work and say, ‘could we do this better?’
But receiving this kind of list from the government is a bitter pill to swallow – particularly when it seems to have been written to show off how great the DCLG is compared to the rest of us.
Over the next few days I will be looking at some of the suggestions on the list and telling you what we’re doing already, as we grapple with cuts in government funding that make your eyes water.
First council blog I’ve ever read. Also quickly scanned the 50 savings document… Now look forward to hearing which suggestions on the list you already do, which you will be taking on board, and which you think are a nonsense… Have to admit, most of the suggestions make sense to me, and it’s also good news if Derby council have already undertaken some of the savings.
You should take the document as advice, not as a bitter pill to swallow.
What if there is one idea in there that Derby council haven’t thought of? It could save thousands of pounds. If not, and you’ve already implemented the cost saving suggestions, then you can take a pat on the back and tweet how good you are.
Looks like a no lose document to me, rather than a bitter pill.
Just my two penneth.
Nige,
Thanks for your comment, and for giving my blog a go!
It’s more the way the document is presented that annoys me than anything else. Do they seriously not think that, after two years of massive cuts, we aren’t already desperately looking for any and every possible means of saving money? Sending out a document like this now and saying, ‘Have you thought about trying to save money?’ is a bit insulting.
And the style is so smug. I mean, take the title, ’50 Ways to Save’ – presumably that’s a play on 50 Shades of Grey, right? How inappropriate is that?! And what about the incredibly politically partisan language they use – calling council magazines ‘town hall pravdas’ for instance; I only know of one council that has ever produced a heavily political, weekly publication that drove the local newspaper out of business, and that was a Conservative-run authority in London.
And don’t get me started on the endless references to how amazing the DCLG is at saving money. Spare a thought for all the former staff there who are now unemployed…
Paul
Where does your Brown Bin Tax fit with then ?
I thought you were supposed to be Socialists & Environmentally Friendly !
Ian,
Thanks for your comment. The £40 a year charge for garden waste collections is, at this stage, simply a proposal we’ve put to the people of Derby. Nothing is decided until the budget proposals are presented to all councillors on 30th January. We have listened to what Council Taxpayers have told us, whilst being very aware that we have to save millions of pounds as a result of government cuts. We didn’t want to introduce any new charges or cut any services, as I’ve said on this blog before. But that, sadly, is the position the government has put us in. They are transferring the pain to local government, so local councils have to make the tough decisions.
In terms of the costing of this proposal – we’ve had to cost it using the assumption that there wouldn’t be a 100% take-up. That’s why the charge would be more than the current per-head cost of collecting brown bins.