There is a wonderful new partnership between the public sector, including the CTCC and the newly formed Public Service Sector Alliance partnership.
This wonderful new entity is going to reduce the costs of running several large public service systems within the health-care, education, local council, Police and Fire Service. Efficiency savings in all areas, pay awards, expenses, budget reductions and pension contributions will all be in the firing line over successive financial review periods.
This is the next step, in the really big plan, following on from centralised communications centres to log calls and dispatch the ‘right unit for the job’, reduce inefficiency and make the services better able to stand up to scrutiny and accountability following established business strategies. It is the right move to provide an effective and affordable solution to today’s problems, apparently.
This partnership will, it is claimed, make huge savings in the administration, management and supply of essential supplies and equipment for the public service sector. The regional committees formed to mass order and save wads of budget cash seem to disagree on most of what they discuss with individuals wanting to be seen to be having the major influence to satisfy their own egos and build the next part of their career development portfolio. Regional uniforms, regional vehicle fleet, centralised maintenance, cross border alliances, shared resources etc, etc, etc. The list is endless and can be applied to almost anything. Perhapsregional custody suites will also be on someones agenda. Perhaps we will stop arresting people if the quota has been reached and carry over some TIC’s for a quiet month ?
From the 1st of the month our pay has been transferred into the giant that is the Public Service Sector Alliance partnership.
All of our requisition for supplies from leads, dog bowls and even patrol fleet will now be under the tight monetary policy control of the Public Service Sector Alliance partnership. The spin tells us this will be somehow better. It does not say who will benefit from this being better.
Suddenly all of our computers and our other resources are no longer those of the CTCC, but now belong to the Public Service Sector Alliance partnership.
The projected huge savings will equip the CTCC and all its other partner organisations under the control of the Public Service Sector Alliance partnership to provide an affordable service that will meet the demands they will face and ensure that a top level and highly professional strategic service is provided and will be affordable, sustainable and provide value for money. This is going to make our communities safer and reassure the public.
Already we have seen problems with pay across the new partnership.
Already we have seen problems in getting kit issued or purchased.
Already we have seen problems with accounting for how and why we need kit.
We have had several major crime enquiries and the Traffic Department are investigating higher than usual serious or fatal collisions. I have no idea how the unexpected rise will fall into the big plan. I expect there is some form of contingency plan just in case.
Those who control the purse strings have their own agenda. They also appear to have insufficient administration staff, computers and planning to ensure a smooth transition into the new partnership world.
To save money under the cloak of appearing to give more for a lot less.
Needless to say, I suspect that somewhere, someone will be making a nice little earner out of this and those who are able to balance their own books will be able to get something by way of performance bonuses.
For those at the bottom of the food-chain, the ones who are repeatedly reminded that they are the ones who all this is in place to support, appear to be a tad sceptical and some even doubt that this will improve things one bit.
For the counters behind their desks or those who control the purse strings maybe.
For the people who actually supply the service where it matters, be it in a hospital ward, a classroom, putting out fires, Policing the streets, emptying dustbins or the myriad of other dedicated local authority front-line service deliverers………………I suspect not.
As the mission statement says, We are working together towards our vision.
What they should be saying is, we will roll you over and make your job just that little bit more difficult and expect ever more for ever less. You are professional and care about what you do so you are easy pickings and have to play by our rules.
Even more of the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, growth industry where workplace environment, car parking spaces and a good canteen are the orders of the day.
For the Policing side of this wonderful public service thing, I remember when there was a canteen in almost every Police Station with staff who worked for the Police and were not in a contracted out service to save costs.
The front-line deliverers are the ones who provide the service, no matter what that happens to be. They are the ones who do the business and take the flak when the ‘customers’ are pissed off because someone feels that someone has failed to deliver.
Those who make the rules do not play by those rules because they have somehow evolved to be above and beyond the same critical spotlight. Their mistaken views of how important they are overtakes the responsibilities of their role which has no direct link towards service delivery of the chosen area. Add to this having comparable perks and conditions that mirror those of top industry warlords, from office, executive car, parking space and even possibly a nice expenses package to reflect their status.
The non-Police staff who occupy these prestigious and lucrative positions pass on their mirror images to the high ranking Police officers who operate in an environment that loses touch with the realities of front-line service delivery all too quickly.
They are unable to measure service sector productivity so dream up ever increasing ways of targeting things that allow them to benchmark what they decide they understand without accounting for all the things that they cannot measure because they are outside of business models.
If an officer puts in X amount of process per shift, puts in X amount of intel per shift, puts in X amount of stop & search forms per shift and issues X amount of producers per shift, that officer is deemed to be hitting all the right targets and is doing an productive job in line with the necessary strategic forecasts.
Another officer, who is perhaps snowed under with crime enquiries he has been allocated by someone behind a desk who cares not about this officer’s workload but only to hit their own targets, is unable to issue anything resembling X amount of anything because of crime enquiries is deemed to be under performing.
Don’t expect targets, measuring and statistics to go away or reduce because they simply won’t. There is no other way of micro-managing the resources from behind a desk apart from getting those resources to submit stats before a decision is made about how long the shafting stick is going to be before it is used. This will justify the position of those who count to those who manage and allow for ever increasing numbers of resources to be essentially removed from front-line service delivery in the name of counting and managing.
Targets, business strategies, constant measuring and often duplicated statistics are the only way forward for those who have never provided the service or are so long out of circulation that have lost touch with how things have moved away from what they may have done for only a relatively short time in their chosen career.
Targets…………….you can’t beat’em.
The Public Service Sector Alliance partnership, the way forward for those who understand the bigger picture.
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