According to the
Tories’ group leader, £4million a year is an ‘excessive and wasteful’ sum of
money to spend on maintaining Wales’
largest occupied office building. So, if
£4million is the ‘wrong’ answer, what’s the ‘right’ one?
Actually, he wasn’t
quite as precise as that. He said only that he ‘fears’ that it is excessive and
wasteful, which sort of suggests that he himself doesn’t actually know what the
right answer would be. Select a number,
any number, as long as it’s smaller, perhaps?
(‘Zero’ would be quite a good answer from his perspective, one suspects.)
There is, in the
way his views are expressed, an underlying suggestion that civil servants
should not expect to have high quality office accommodation – that is to be
reserved for the private sector. And if
their conditions deteriorate over time, and no longer meet current standards
and expectations, then they should simply accept that as part of the package. Whilst we shouldn't be paying for anyone to work in opulent surroundings, it is surely reasonable for them to expect to be working in modern conditions which comply with current standards, isn't it?
It’s interesting
that he claims that the money could be better used in supporting businesses, as in “There are untold numbers of businesses in Wales that
would benefit from financial support”.
I’m sure that there are. But is
he really saying that he’d prefer to see taxpayers’ money used to give grants
and subsidies to businesses rather than to purchase services and materials
from them? Because that’s where most of
the £4million will actually have gone – to private companies in return for work
done. Providing state handouts rather than giving business to companies is an odd position for a Tory to
take.
I don’t know
whether £4 million is excessive or not.
It sounds a lot, but there also seems to be an element of catch-up after some years of neglect. I simply don’t
have enough information to judge. And
neither, I suspect, do the Tories.
There’s nothing new
in their approach though. Far too often,
opposition politicians seize on any large numbers which come into view because
they make good headlines. But headline
chasing isn’t the same as detailed scrutiny and constructive opposition. Nor is it the best way of ensuring that those who work in public services on behalf of all of us have suitable, but not extravagant, working conditions.
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2 comments:
Alot of the Welsh Conservatives' political points aren't really "conservative". Under conservative approaches, the public sector has generally been expected to act more like the private sector, hence the large spending on outside consultants, and spending to get private sector style standards in buildings and work environments. It doesn't make any sense for the Tories to be doing this and is cheap politics. They want the public sector to operate like the private sector, until it actually comes to spending any money to achieve that.
I suspect the expenditure is linked to this story I covered some time ago...
http://acardiffvoice.blogspot.com/2009/03/42-million-question.html
The work is part of an ongoing refurbishment program brining government buildings up to current standards and making them energy efficient, saving £5 million a year, every year, on the cost of energy for them.
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