Buckinghamshire County Council

Bucks County Council, along with other councils throughout the country, must spend considerable sums of money on translating documents. Why not take the view that anyone who wishes to live in this country must, at the very least, be able to read and speak the language. If anyone feels this is a real problem, perhaps the one document which could be translated into different languages, would be a list of the contact details of translation services.

I think that is a valid point.

we hardly ever use our local library, and our children have never set foot in the youth club in our town

Libraries need to be run by the council and paid staff who know how to use the system and serve the public. Bucks libraries have thousands of books, audio books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, Internet access, local papers, local information and excellent staff.

Libraries are one of the services where we actually get value for our council tax.

Like most people I would think, I least value the Council's central administration costs, such as HR, payroll, finance, senior management etc.  In addition, I least value under-utilised property generally and, in particular, property occupied by central administration functions.

 

 

Councils are very good at spending our money.  I think it would be a good idea if each idea to offer greater services - or reduce them - came with a "price tag".     

For instance:  "The library service costs each household in Bucks (say) £100 per year. Would you like to spend more on this, or less?  The new proposal to stay open on Sundays will cost each household £5.50 per year.  Would you like us to spend this amount of your money on this?" 

I know that the numbers are available if you dig for them  but I think presenting the numbers in a stark way - much as you and I have to privately when deciding to buy a bike or a dinner or a holiday - would help focus the Council and the voters on what is important and what is good value.

I am unconvinced of the value of this kind of participation.  I predict that you will obtain only a tiny number of responses that will not be representative of the county population as a whole. We elect county copuncillors to take decisions for us and can vote them opout if we don't like the decisions.  Money spent on this kind of exercise is money wasted.

Jaypee, the thing is, we cannot vote them out no matter how hard we try. Aylesbury is a LibDem stronghold - so why aren't the LibDems running the council? Because the Tories have more seats - because there are many small enclaves of wealth who vote Tory, each enclave has one councillor and so the Tories have more representation.

It is the same with the general election, the number of elections where the ruling party gets the minority of votes is unbelievable - as is the fact that a large percentage of the electorate simply CBA to vote - in fact, more people vote on X factor or Big brother than in a general election - speaks volumes for the country really.

This is not a democracy

 

If BCC or AVDC were to be run as real businesses, the majority of the managers would be booted out and many high wages would be reduced, but because wages are paid from the public pot - that is, the pot that is guaranteed to be filled no matter how many times you empty it- the whole management structure is too busy looking over their shoulder.

And therein lies the problem. We are constantly told how essential these many levels of management are and how their wages are high because they reflect commercial wages - why should they reflect commercial wages? In commerce, your wage is set by how productive you are, with councils, wages are paid no matter how useless you are at the job & no matter how much damage you create - the commercial market wouldn't stand for it whereas here it is all simply swept under the carpet & forgotten about.

Cushioncreeper: Of course the private sector wouldn't reward incompetence - just ask Fred Goodwin! Ah, bad example... But in all seriousness, you make valid points about excessive levels of management, but the old argument that "it wouldn't happen in the private sector" is far too simplistic, and blind faith in the inherent efficiency of the private sector can lead local authorities to simply mimic private sector practices where they are not always appropriate. It also leads to outsourcing, which is not necessarily a bad thing if done correctly. But is it being done correctly? Or are some contracts simply going to the lowest bidder, who are sometimes not up to the job, leading to further waste as Council employees have to pick up the slack?

Hit the nail on the head with the last comment - contracts going out to lowest bidder, but council workers don't take up the slack in many cases because they are no longer employed.

I think that the amount spent on translating documents is nothing compared to the amount spent on reprinting documents when government departments change their names or there has been some restructuring in the council departments. Although councilllors have computers and printers they are still sent loads of documentation printed for them and by post  because they prefer the paper copies. Have you tried to calculate the costs of all these  compared to a few translated leaflets?

Sadly the schooling having been very badly let down by the system. My son was left with no place at the local state school as there was no places left for him. So, we pay for his schooling out of taxed income and pay our taxes for everyone elses kids to go to school too.

We value our local park, schools and local libraries as this is the stage of life we are at. We are constantly frustrated at the state of the roads and the lack of a swimming pool in Beaconsfield.

I tend to agree that this forum is a rather "official" and cumbersome. I can't see too many young people getting involved. I suggest you get into the secondary schools and harness the opinions of this group. Also the elderly or minority groups.

I value least the Buckinghamshire Times.

My understanding is that Childcare costs are going through the roof following the "baby P" case.

I'm unsure about youth provision. The justification is that it gives teenagers something to do in the evening, keeping them off the streets and addresses anti-social behaviour. My hunch is that if that resource was spent in schools, improving literacy for the low achievers, those youths would be better equipped to amuse themselves.

I think the Library Service is good but should focus on books only. DVD rental should be left to the private sector and music is easily available cheaply via other media.

I would like to see BCC put its library catalogue online and offer online book reservations, c.f Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Simple savings:
turn off more street lights for a few hours (perhaps 1am onwards) except where needed for safety reasons
turn off more road lighting especially in rural areas
turn off lighting in public buildings at night - too many offices seem to be lit all night
revise new emploment contracts so people are not ENTITLED to large bonuses or severance payments

Green Park, Aston Clinton

Must be costing thousands no millions. Dispose of it to a third party with Trust conditions allowing public access to facilities and parkland (as the Rothschilds always used to!).

The place has very limited utilisation, and is run as a semi private fiefdom for the 'Educational' establishment. 

Social care costs must be reduced and families encouraged to look after themselves - too many people want something for nothing nowadays.  The demands of baby boomers reaching retirement without having saved for it together with irresponsible families having more children than they can afford is placing too great a strain on the young working population.

I wonder what percentage of money is spent on external consultants.  I know a lot of money is used to set up "public consultations" when a project is proposed, in order to gauge opinions. This money is not being spent on a "service" at all.  Who checks that the consultancy fees are value for money?  

BCC want to know which services I value least/most.

My answer is that I value some part of most services.

The real question should be which services can be provided more efficiently.

The largest cost in providing most BCC service is labour.

I can help BCC reduce this cost and help them achieve their target of a 25% reduction in costs.

I suggest the first step in this task is for BCC to publish a list of the Job Descriptions of all employees.

Residents will then be able to select which jobs they value least/most.

Many jobs valued leased by residents can then dispensed with.   

 

In Burnham they built a new village hall at a MASSIVE cost, only a SMALL % of residents will use it. Why has this been done without full consultation of Burnham residents?