GOVERNMENT
MANAGEMENT VOID
This
is best described by the NAO (National Audit Office) in a recent report as
follows: “we
do not consider that there exists a coherent, enduring framework for planning
and management that government needs.” At last recognition…but what
will be done?
The
management
cycle is integral to virtually all human activities: the car driver has
a destination and is constantly reacting to the feedback that comes at him through the windscreen, the next corner
and so on. 1n the 1940s fighter and bomber pilots were debriefed immediately on
landing enabling operational plans to be
updated. The industry boss will be
constantly looking ahead, giving directions and strategies aided by feedback,
statistics and so on. Periodically his finance team will collate proposals and
needs from all quarters of the organisation and compile the plan for the
ensuing period for adoption or amendment. The resulting budgets are then issued back down the line for execution and as
time passes report back on outcomes, all
in standard measured format.
.
Government
doesn’t behave like that. It regards politics as the method and as an end in
itself. It does not even seem to have a one-page public statement of its
primary objectives in running the country. Lacking management information it drives with a rear-view mirror and misted
windscreen. It sets up a committee. It sets up a quango (jobs for the boys). It
‘empowers’ (?). It legislates and then ‘takes the day off’. It excludes. It
believes it can manage without ‘tools’ and ‘machinery’ which are regarded as
separate and beneath consideration. It doesn’t understand that the art of management is the delegation of
responsibility while retaining control. It seems to be trying to fill the void
by second guessing and supplementing unstructured line management using words
like ‘independent’ and ‘democratic, to ‘scrutinise’ (looking for what?) and debate
without executive conclusion.
The above can be seen in the FLAW evidence put
to the C&AG (Comptroller & Auditor General): “There is a deep conceptual but simply
identified flaw in government accounting which must be costing billions and is
creating uncontrolled debt”.
1 That accountability is in the hands of recipients of
public funds is the cause of the failure of the (European court of auditors) to
sign off the accounts. “They never will until this is addressed.” This is not so much a
suggestion of corrupt practices, though it may be, but saying that there is no
outcome feedback. That applies equally in UK though since 2009 there has been
feedback into WGA Whole Government Accounts but with the resulting
consolidation taking up to a useless 14 months. It was intended that by 2010 comparative
budget values would be incorporated but that has not happened.
2 The IMF has just been criticised
by its ‘independent examiner’ for its role in the Greek crisis and failure to
grasp that currency unions require treasury and political union or are vastly
exposed to debt crises. In other words
the budget must be resourced and achievable as seen at the time. The
same very clearly goes for the UK sterling area.
3 There is lack of information
on which to vote in that in UK the universal franchise has not yet extended to
formal accountability. “Accountability” needs information
to inform the required decision. For government it only so far means exposure
to election. There is no systematic feedback to MPs as deputed by the cabinet
(?) or via the DCLG (Dept. of Communities & Local Government), or to
residents by Annual Report.
The recognition of
need is present but is neutered by an expressed general feeling, particularly
in the treasury of insurmountable complexity. In fact the right drivers would
come from an immediately instituted Cabinet agenda spot served by regular
Report in standard format. The Cabinet Secretary would need to ‘believe’ and
CFO and ministers put ‘on the spot’ in turn. The initial absence of the data for
key-figures would stimulate system upgrading. Then the evolutionary process
would take care of ‘deep-reaching’ improvement to a wide range of government
activities, tax simplification and so on all prompted by the new dialogue from
the top. Savings would be in billions with true Value for Money .
.2nd February 2017
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