Public Sector Waste

At a time of economic hardship for all, why is the Public Sector wasting so much money?

A recent report by MP's suggests that IT spending is far higher than it need be.  True, the figure quoted of an average £3,500 per desktop PC which could be bought in the high street for £250 is like comparing apples with chalk - the higher figure allegedly includes sofware and support and infrastructure but even so I think the figure is excessive, and I speak from experience in an IT department supporting a large number of users with a wide variety of specialised hardware and software requirements..

Moving on to supplies, it appears that paper can be bought far more expensively than I buy it - how can anyone spend £73 on a box of paper, even if they take the ministerial Jaguar for a spin to go and buy it?

We then see a report of the websites that Whitehall civil servants like to visit - it seems that whilst we pay them to work they do a bit of online gaming, shopping, gambling and sometimes visit government websites.

I know from friends and relatives that this is not simply a London issue, outside the capital there are many reports of wasted spending.  Organisations like the government and local and county councils ought to have the buying power to negotiate very good deals with supplier in view of the volume of business they represent - yet we still hear of items being purchased at a higher price than the high street because 'that is our approved supplier'

Recently there was a report of a council which purchased iPads for all the councillors despite the fact that many did not want them or subsequently use them.  Supposedly this was to increase efficiency but if left unsused they cannot achieve this.  Perhaps we should all be issued with a tablet/laptop of our choosing so we can be more efficient - makes just as much sense because it will ensure we can communicate with all the official bodies electronically!

In the private sector, buyers and managers who negotiated or approved these deals would at least be reprimanded, and if repeated it is likely they would find themselves looking for new employment.  In the public sector it seems that this is not the case.

Some of these may seem like minor issues or slight overspend, but considering the size of the departments and councils involved it soon adds up.  We are in massive defecit as a country - why not start by catching up on issues such as this and paring down the debt.