Tuesday 21 July 2009

How do they get away with it?

The NAO's report on the Equality and Human Rights Commission makes shocking reading. Here are just two quotes that give a flavour of the scandalous management of that institution.

"The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified the accounts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) because the EHRC re-engaged, without Treasury authority, seven former senior employees of the former Commission for Racial Equality who had left that body under a voluntary early severance scheme."

"The EHRC incurred costs of £629,276 in respect of the severance costs of these individuals, but, on returning to the Commission, these staff received between them consultancy fees of £323,708. The Treasury had not authorised in advance the payments to re-engage these staff, and refused to do so retrospectively because it did not consider that the payments represented value for money. In particular, the Treasury expressed concern about the level of the salaries paid to the re-engaged staff and raised the possibility that the re-engaged staff should have repaid their severance payments."

In the UK, accountability disappeared a long time ago. No one will be held responsible; everything will continue as before. The only loser here is the voiceless and disenfranchised taxpayer.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

GTFOOD

Kim Jong said...

Ouch. Sned this to Fraser Nelson at coffeehouse, they will get it out there. It isn't being covered anywhere else.

Fred said...

Gradually the nation will have to choose between these sort of "civil servants" and real nurses, police officers and so.

Under New Labour there has been an astonishing growth in the number of pseudo civil servants.

Declining revenues and rising expenditure will ensure something has to be cut.

If we get another Labour administration, I fear things will only get worse. Public finances will be mortally injured on the altar of spin.

Mark Wadsworth said...

What Sureseam says.

In reply to your question "How do they get away with it?", get away with "what" exactly?

These quangoes are NOT intended to change anything on the ground, they are giant slush funds for the Labour luvvies to fill their pockets and to buy votes of hte people who work there. In that sense, they are functioning most excellently - they aren't "getting away with" anything that they aren't supposed to be doing, so what's your complaint, exactly?

Mick said...

I'd still rather have Trevor Phillips there than most of the pious twats in the diversity industry.