It still takes a brave individual to challenge the ‘Group Think’ in Welsh politics that states public services are sacred, reforming them are dirty words and that it’s up to the private sector to make itself bigger, not WAG to reduce the size of the public sector.
But Economist Brian Morgan is one such man well known for saying things need to change and in a lengthy piece in the Western Mail earlier this week takes the issues head on.
On the Economy he writes :-
Secondly, we simply need to re-balance the economy. The increase in public sector employment, even during the recession, has been significant and the consequent increase in bureaucracy and regulation has become stifling.
Everyone is aware that very tough economic decisions will have to be made and the implications for the Welsh economy are not good.
We have become used to large increases in the block grant (it has risen from £7bn to £16bn since 1999) and this has allowed the Welsh Assembly Government to greatly extend the range of services that it seeks to provide and the number of regulations it strives to enforce.
In the short-term, the main economic problem in Wales will be how to cope with expected reductions in the block grant without undermining the recovery. But, in the longer-term, the more important issue will be about how to reverse the recent expansion in public expenditure and the consequent rise in the number of administrators.
One option is to make more effective use of the private sector and of the voluntary sector in delivering public services.
In Wales the share of government expenditure in GDP has risen to more than 60% – which is simply unsustainable. We need a government in Wales that not only recognises how untenable this is, but has the policies and the determination to reduce the Government’s share of GDP back towards normal peace-time levels – below 50%.
And on the Welsh Civil Service and Bureaucracy :-
These problems have been exacerbated by recent WAG policies which have created an ever-expanding bureaucracy. For example, during the merger of the WDA into WAG in 2005, a pledge was made that this would not lead to any redundancies – (apparently we don’t do efficiency savings in Wales!).
The result is that after five years more than 100 people are on “gardening leave” as no posts have been found for them in the new set-up. This is despite the fact that the total numbers employed in WAG have expanded significantly with many of the new posts being introduced to oversee and monitor the work of the WDA!
Similarly after expanding the number of Local Health Boards from five to 22 in the year 2000, WAG has recently reduced the number of Health Boards back to seven. This represents mismanagement on a grand scale, but despite the huge increase in the number of administrators created on the way up, (22 chief executives, 22 finance officers and chairmen etc, etc.) there have been no redundancies on the way back down.
So will anyone in a position influence listen to Brian Morgan or will things continue as they are – needless to say i’m not holding my breath?Any source
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