reply to post by yeebsy
I personaly understand the need for some cuts, but the government have made the wrong alterations to their spending as far as I am concerned. Rather
than cutting education spending, and cutting JOBS from the public sector to the degree that they are, the government should be scrutinising every tiny
little expenditure that thier departments make.
HMRC for instance, the group responsible for the investigation of tax evasion among other things, are loosing money like a pig loosing blood after a
slaughterman has done his work. The reason for this is that all thier buildings the length of the land, are owned and site managed by a group called
Mapely, one of the biggest tax evaders in Britain. Furthermore, said company has control over what comes in and out of every one of the offices of the
HMRC. Let me give you an example. When you or I discover that our computer mouse has broken, we nip into town, and purchase a new one for between
£7.99 and £15.00. The same replacement mouse costs HMRC £68.99 ,because HMRC are forced by contract to purchase all supplies from Mapely's
catalogue , and thats how much Mapely charge them for a mouse. They explain this cost by saying that the extra monies are paid as a service charge,
even though servicing is rarely performed to save money (not that this makes any sense at all, but thats how they roll in any case). Its not just IT
equipment either, they overcharge for their poor quality paper products, cheap pens which break within a day and cost more than a half decent biro
equivalent pen, it goes on and on.
Now , if you think about it, Im sure you will realise that the scale of the HMRC operations up and down the nation is huge, and really think about
how much paper, IT equipment, stationary, chairs, desk fans, desks and cabinets, and God knows what else such a huge organisation requires, you will
see that the amount of money being spent , and wasted by HMRC due to this outrageous contract with Mapely must therefore be massive. Not only that,
but because Mapely have such a terrible habit of evading tax on thier earnings, the HMRC will loose out again there, and so therefore will the tax
payer. Oh and if that wasnt enough, Mapely bought the control of each HMRC site for a single pound per site, some of which cost millions to build,
including purpose built training centres, and brand new data storage facilities.
Whats even worse than this, is that other government departments may well be in similar positions with other management firms . Information like this
is hard to come by unless you happen to have some inside information. Its the only way to find out where to cast your gaze when searching for the
rotten fruit spoiling the barrel.
I wish I had the right to publish all I know about this contract, but in order to validate my claims I would have to provide information which would
see friends of mine in extremely hot water , so I cannot provide the evidence I possess for this. I can however let people know, and give them the
choice of looking into it for themselves.
If the government eliminated wasteful contracts like this from its books, took out all the management companies and regained control over its
spending on its basic supplies, that alone would save the taxpayer far more than the raft of measures they have instigated lately. They could
eliminate potentialy tens of billions of pounds just by removing these cancerous parasitic contractors from the equation, and getting better prices
for the millions of tonnes of paper and office products they use per annum.
Rather than do this, they prefer to make cuts in public spending, public sector jobs go as a result, public service suffers in reaction to that
problem, and the whole country ends up sick as a parrot with no where to look for job security, for its next meal, for its very survival.
That is the problem at hand. We all know savings need making, but the government are not saving money in areas which would allow people a measure of
normality, not saving money in a way which protects jobs (one assumes if they paid a more sensible price for thier supplies, they wouldnt have to fire
as many people to pay the deficit down), they are not saving money in a way which promotes the future well being of the services which we need to run
our nation. Instead they are paying off the big companies which have bought thier buildings, and just accepting the tax evasion and the daylight
robbery that these big management firms are dealing out, loosing money TWICE on every purchase.
I ask you, is this the behaviour of a government that cares about peoples welfare and security ? Is this the behaviour of a government with the right
priorities in terms of looking after civil servants, and the people they serve? Is this the behaviour of a government which has its thinking cap on
about the best ways to solve our debt crisis? No , I dont think it is, and I do not believe that the cuts they have made in other areas are justified,
or even CAN be justified, unless or until the parasitic management companies which are bleeding government departments dry , can be excised from the
equation, and the boat loads of money saved has been recouped, and payed into the deficit reduction . Till then , other measures, measures which loose
people thier jobs and destroy livelihoods and our public services should be immediately halted, until the full effect of solving the supply issue is
utterly and completely known, and quantified.
Any other course of action shows disregard for the will of the people, and for the rights and peace of public sector workers.