December 9: Kent top of the tree...
THERE may be a
touch of hyperbole in the comment from KCC leader Paul
Carter that “it is a great day for Kent and its
residents.”
But there’s no denying that the county has
fared particularly well in a new initiative designed to give people
an indication of their “quality of life” based on how well public
services are performing.
Read our story
here>>>
The Audit Commission’s new “Oneplace”
initiative – why do they always have these bizarre names spelt in
funny ways? – is undeniably comprehensive, drawing together the
verdicts of six inspectorates on council services, the NHS and
crime.
The question is whether there is almost too
much information to wade through.
Having had an opportunity to access the
website before today’s official online launch (not exactly what I’d
call a perk of the job) I found it very unwieldy and cumbersome to
navigate through and it’s extremely easy to end up with a vast
number of browser screens open on your computer before you know
it.
Whether ordinary citizens – which the Oneplace
site is aimed at – will find it shines a light as intended on
public bodies or prove to be simply frustrating remains to be seen.
I see the site crashed early this morning which suggests there is
some interest out there.
Some of the assessment reports I’ve seen verge
on being so imprecise as to be virtually meaningless.
For example, if you take a look at the
East Kent Primary Care trust report, it talks about various
targets being “not in line with agreed targets” but it
doesn’t say what those original targets are.
Still, I’m all for maximum openness and
transparency. But I’ve some reservations about whether this regime
actually fulfils the most important aim of improving accountability
given the generalities and descriptive nature of many of the
reports.
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Interestingly, I see that the great “Oneplace”
project might in any case be shortlived.
The Conservatives have been particularly scathing about the
Government’s approach to inspecting and assessing public services
and the party’s spokeswoman, shadow secretary for communities and
local government, Caroline Spelman, said
today:
"Labour have created an army of clipboard inspectors to monitor
councils, which has done nothing to stop council tax doubling or
frontline services like weekly bin collections being cut.
Conservatives will abolish the bureaucratic CAA, and target
inspection where it's really needed, such as children's social
services."
Kent County Council’s own Conservative administration has had a
slightly fractious relationship with the Audit Commission, notably
over the Icelandic investments.
Whether today’s plaudits will see the two becoming new bosom
buddies and putting their previous differences aside I rather
doubt.
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IT seems there is
something of an old-fashioned political arms race going on over
which party will be the harshest when it comes to so-called “fat
cat” public sector salaries.
After George Osborne pledged that a future
Conservative government would force any public body to get Treasury
approval for any chief who earned more than the PM,
Gordon Brown upped the ante this week by lowering
the threshold to £150,000. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems
have promised that no salaries would be able to increase by £400 a
year if they formed the next Government.
Whether the parties will follow through with all this posturing,
I do wonder.
But if they do, whichever party forms the next Government, such
measures will capture quite a few public sector chiefs in Kent as
you can see here>>
Wednesday, December 09 2009