Call a truce on sector wars
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by David Philpott chairman of the Kent branch Institute of
Directors
It is customary in some circles to bash the public sector - or
more to the point, bash public service employees. Forget Star Wars,
this is Sector Wars.
"Fat pensions," "cushy numbers," "jobs for the boys" are all
phrases scattered at random like confetti at a big fat gypsy
wedding. But there is a change happening. Council cuts are
beginning to bite and with them our perception of the public sector
is changing.
We had been warned about it, of course but we did not think it
would affect us. We have been too busy doing real work - or so we
thought. "We directors are the entrepreneurs of the economy without
whom there would be no taxes to fund the public sector," we had
smugly assured ourselves.
But now we are losing things that we once took for granted and
our society is becoming all the poorer as a consequence.
In my own case, it was not the loss of a library or the
withdrawal of vital care for an elderly relative that brought this
home to me but something a lot more innocuous. I recently wanted to
do a spot of rambling and typed the words "Walks in Kent" into my
search engine.
In all the years I have been Googling like this, I have never
been disappointed - whole afternoons whiled away in the Kentish
countryside with quaint undiscovered inns often stumbled upon in
the process. On this particular occasion, we set out for the
village of Bean near Bluewater for a gentle two-mile hike in the
Beacon Wood Country Park. However ,on arrival, we found that this
hitherto un-tasted pleasure had already been taken from us. Kent
County Council, you see, had chained-up the gates and posted
notices to say that, unable to afford its upkeep in the current
economic circumstances, the park had been handed back to Lafarge,
the owners. Over the next two years, we will see all sorts of
things taken away from us - things that we took for granted,
expected, thought would always be there - simply because as a
country we need to start living within our means.
I know a lot of people who work in the public sector and
similarly charities who are funded by grants from local councils.
The events of the past 12 months have been a real wake-up call for
them and with remarkable good grace it seems to me, most are
learning to provide services differently. It is easy to talk about
efficiency savings but that is a bit simplistic. Difficult
decisions are being made, each and every day.
We Brits love to pigeon-hole things, what with our Private,
Public and - heaven help us - Third Sector. Whatever may have been
the case in the past, the days of jobs for life on Easy Street are
over, irrespective of the sector.
Methinks we are all in this together, so let's role up our
sleeves and get on with it, without all that childish cross-sector
sniping.
Monday, June 13 2011
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