Ease the cost of living crisis by making more people unemployed ?

AGAA4

BJ wants to privatise the civil service. He will get rid of staff then outsource to private companies.
I think SERCO have been used before in the civil service according to my son who has worked there for 20 years.

And Capita.

Germanshepherdsmum

If my experience in local government is anything to go by, I would be surprised if some departments didn’t need to be slimmed down.

So what's your experience of local gorvernment?

Callistemon21

growstuff

I don't think any decisions have been yet GrannyGravy about how the "cull" will be achieved.

What's the betting the services currently being provided by the Civil Service will be outsourced to private providers?

Brexit has caused more work for the Civil Service because it's taken on extra red tape and the services which used to be provided by Brussels.

What's the betting the services currently being provided by the Civil Service will be outsourced to private providers?

It's been going on for years, then, when it all hits problems, the government of the day comes up with the thought that they actually need an in-house service after all.

Too late.
Plonkers

I couldn't agree more.

Germanshepherdsmum

If my experience in local government is anything to go by, I would be surprised if some departments didn’t need to be slimmed down.

Really?

growstuff

I don't think any decisions have been yet GrannyGravy about how the "cull" will be achieved.

What's the betting the services currently being provided by the Civil Service will be outsourced to private providers?

Brexit has caused more work for the Civil Service because it's taken on extra red tape and the services which used to be provided by Brussels.

What's the betting the services currently being provided by the Civil Service will be outsourced to private providers?

It's been going on for years, then, when it all hits problems, the government of the day comes up with the thought that they actually need an in-house service after all.

Too late.
Plonkers

Errmmm...

De La Rue profits slump after losing contract to make blue UK passports after Brexit

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-blue-passport-de-la-rue-profits-contract-gemalto-economy-a8653476.html

A bit of useless information - Passports were printed in Gateshead by de la Rue. When the contract was lost to a Dutch/French company 3 years ago, de la Rue closed the Gateshead factory and made hundreds redundant. They concentrated all their production (they print banknotes) in Essex and reported an increase in profits of 61%.

If my experience in local government is anything to go by, I would be surprised if some departments didn’t need to be slimmed down.

BJ wants to privatise the civil service. He will get rid of staff then outsource to private companies.
I think SERCO have been used before in the civil service according to my son who has worked there for 20 years.

Whitewavemark2

Tobias Ellwood MP
@Tobias_Ellwood
· 3h
I’m beginning to believe there’s a ‘Dead Cat Committee’ in No.10 spewing out a regular drumbeat of sensationalist headlines.

A spew of responses in the vein of cross the floor, do something about it.

Then I remembered that this is the MP who backed the 2015 move by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to increase salaries for politicians by 10% when the rest of the public sector were on a freeze of 1%.

He apologised for any offence caused by the comment that without the proposed raise to his £90,000 salary he would be "watching the pennies".

Wasn't Johnson talking about privatising the Passport Office a few days ago?

Probably. He talks such utter nonsense and lies almost constantly, if he said it was Friday today I would check. It is getting quite frightening how he can just say what he likes, and nobody calls him out, nobody challenges him. Although, I was immensely sheered to see his fellow liar Suella Braverman given a verbal mauling by the majority of the QT audience last night. She should be struck off by the Bar Council.

As I understand it, there's a suggestion that a French company supplying agency staff to the Passport Office.

They certainly use a great many agency staff according to the son of a friend of mine who works at the local passport office. Whether or not they are French I don't know.

Wasn't Johnson talking about privatising the Passport Office a few days ago?

Boris and Rees-Mogg are talking through their arses as usual, with absolutely no investigation into the achievability of this plucked out of the air target, as Smogg admitted this morning.

This makes very interesting reading if you want to see whether the cuts will fall (if it ever happens, which it won’t)
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/civil-service-staff-numbers

Sig. Just to correct one of the many incorrect 'facts' on this thread....HM Govt Passport Office is the only body which can issue UK passports, I don't know what this nonsense is about a French company, unless you mean the people who do the manufacturing. We have all read and sympathised with the many threads detailing GN members' trials and tribulations with government departments, in particular the NHS and DWP, so how on earth can making staff redundant or 'culling' them help? Or are we all happy to have yet more contracts being passed to those masters of efficiency Crapita?

Tobias Ellwood MP
@Tobias_Ellwood
· 3h
I’m beginning to believe there’s a ‘Dead Cat Committee’ in No.10 spewing out a regular drumbeat of sensationalist headlines.

Zonne

I’ve just worked out the level of investment per person if the £3.5bn savings figure is right: it’s £53.

nandad you do realise that DWP staff are quite likely to be axed? And that council staff - whether county, unitary or district - are not civil servants?

Yes, I do and yes I do.
My point is that there are some parts of the civil service eg the DWP, where staff are working hard and unrelentingly for little money.
Re councils, my point is that these should also be considered for ‘culling’.
BTW the ESFA is the Education Department where had staff been more on the ball they would have realised what a shocking waste of money some of their schemes are, but they are also over staffed and so run around like headless chickens.

Redeployment and retraining to move people isn't quite the same as axing jobs to cut the numbers of civil servants. Which is what the announcement was about, actually cutting the number of civil servants employed.

As Zonne points out, there was an increase in civil servants to deal with Brexit. As Brexit is by no means 'done', and we still need civil servants to deal with matters which are a result of Brexit (like increased border staff and customs officers) a reversion to pre Brexit numbers is impossible.

Though I actually, for once, agree with Ug that it's just a meaningless soundbite which probably won't be going anywhere much.

I'd also suggest that anecdotes about wastage in some areas aren't particularly compelling evidence of the need to cut civil service numbers. Bad management happens in all large organisations, whether state run or private.

growstuff I was running around after a free range 2 yr old whilst listening to the news, so I might have heard suggestions and taken them as the actual plan.

Nothing surprises me at the moment with this Government.

DiamondLily

It plays well to the right wing, The government put about the notion that all civil servants are overpaid, underworked leeches and that they won't be missed.

Many years ago, during some of the Thatcher years, I worked for the (then) DHSS processing benefit claims - I worked very hard, for average pay - harder than I've ever worked in a private company. ?

Those cheering the loss of 90,000 jobs might be singing a different tune when the benefits bill rockets upward, and when they are waiting even longer for tax queries, passports, driving licenses etc.

I worked for the Employment Service/Job Centre. The work was never finished and we all worked out socks off, dealing with technology that didn’t work and angry people who didn’t/couldn’t understand the system.

It seems that ‘help’ for those in need now has even more hoops to jump through than previously. Look at the debacle over Ukrainian visas. Those at the bottom generally do their best to help.

I’d be very happy if we reduced the number of managers and senior civil servants who inflict unworkable schemes that juniors have to enforce.

To improve efficiency, have systems that work, train staff properly. Reducing the Civil Service is just another way of privatising services so that another profit can be made from the public purse.

I don't think any decisions have been yet GrannyGravy about how the "cull" will be achieved.

What's the betting the services currently being provided by the Civil Service will be outsourced to private providers?

Brexit has caused more work for the Civil Service because it's taken on extra red tape and the services which used to be provided by Brussels.

I read this as Civil Servants who are retiring or leaving for other reasons will not be replaced, along with short term/temporary contracts not being renewed.

There will be some redeployment and retraining to move people where they are needed.

Lido

Another ridiculous fairytale concocted to fuel culture wars and distract from the governments failings.

Even the words used are full of hot air 'demanded', 'come up with a plan', 'could', 'up to'.

No dates, no facts, no strategy or plan to execute the hair brained idea.

Cowboy builders come up with back of a fag packet schemes which have more credibility and substance.

Yes.

“We do seem to pay out a lot of money for ‘shoddy’ service these days.”

I wonder how much it cost to take the PM and ministers to Stoke for their away day meeting?

Shoddy service should be tackled from the top down.

I’ve just worked out the level of investment per person if the £3.5bn savings figure is right: it’s £53.

nandad you do realise that DWP staff are quite likely to be axed? And that council staff - whether county, unitary or district - are not civil servants?

DiamondLily

The initial passport application has to go through our passport office. It's then passed on to actually produce the passport itself.

The long delays in phone contact is from the UK office not answering them, so the delays are here.

WFH probably DiamondLily. It’s ‘not working’ (like renewal of driving licences) if the system doesn’t produce the necessary. Honestly we do seem to pay out a lot of money for shoddy ‘service’ these days.