Sunday 25 September 2011

For Real, 24 Karat Chutzpah, It Takes An MP…

Top civil servants responsible for Hampshire’s white elephant fire control building have been promoted, a damning report has revealed.
Is anyone surprised? I mean, anyone who isn’t a visitor from outer space, that is?
In its report the committee says: “The project was beset by poor leadership and characterised by a high turnover of senior management staff. There have been five senior responsible owners and four project directors. None have so far been held to account for failures and most have suffered no hindrance to their career.

The department’s accounting officer between 2005 and 2010 is now the top Civil Servant in Scotland.”
Heh! That explains a lot…
The committee, which scrutinises public spending, also raised concerns about further spending. Committee chairman Margaret Hodge said: “The department now plans to spend a further £84.8 million to secure the original objectives of FiReControl, so that there is a co-ordinated response to national incidents. It is not clear to us how this will deliver value for money or achieve the objectives intended.

“No-one has been held to account for this project failure and the careers of most of the senior staff responsible have carried on as if nothing had gone wrong at all.”
Wait a minute….

Margaret Hodge? This Margaret Hodge?

Well, she seems pretty Teflon-coated herself, doesn’t she?

10 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

Hodge ? .. Prescott ?

The story pretty much writes itself .. eh ?

SBC said...

"The department now plans to spend a further £84.8 million... "

You know what they say: A million here, a million there, and very soon you're talking about MP's expenses.

John Page said...

And how are they managing to spend £48m a year on maintenance of those (is it 12?) buildings?

It really makes the case for minimum government.

But sadly people don't go into politics to make a difference by giving up power.

Unless it's to Brussels.

Anonymous said...

So few Labour politicians have ever run a business they don't understand the value of money-it's not theirs is it?
Look at the farce with the cost of the Olympics where it trebled over-night.It's only the tax payer footing the bill after all.
Jaded

Woman on a Raft said...

Hampshire has a white elephant too? I didn't realize there were so many of them.

I wish I had gone in to the white elephant supply business - there seems to be quite a demand for them.

John Pickworth said...

I still maintain that Government pensions/pay-offs (for ministers and senior civil servants) should be a function of say the deficit (or surplus) over their term of service.

If the Government's finances are balanced or in surplus, you get your full 100% entitlement. In deficit, you get the equivalent remaining rate. Therefore; 100% deficit you get nothing. 10% you get 90% of your entitlement.

Write something like this into law and you solve at a stroke the diarrhea spending policies of Brown, Milliband, Balls and Cooper. Or the worryingly lax bowels of the current lot.

Add in manifesto pledges of total revenue from taxes and you've pretty much eradicated big wasteful Government.

Captain Haddock said...

@ John Pickworth ..

Bloody good idea .. works for me ...

Anonymous said...

Or more simply, underwrite any project with their own house and pension.

It's easy to gamble with others money.

JuliaM said...

"The story pretty much writes itself .. eh ?"

Indeed!

"You know what they say: A million here, a million there, and very soon you're talking about MP's expenses."

:D

"Add in manifesto pledges of total revenue from taxes and you've pretty much eradicated big wasteful Government."

Ooooh, I like the sound of that!

Weekend Yachtsman said...

The Fire Control fiasco was part of the EU's plan for the "regionalisation" of England, so when it all goes pear-shaped they can't just stop, they have to keep trying to do what their masters require.