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CUTTING THE DEFICIT - PART 2

Has Leighton Andrews inadvertedly made the job of cutting the Welsh Assembly’s budget easier over the next couple of years?

His review of education spending within Wales, published yesterday, found that almost a third of expenditure in the sector was spent on administration.

Clearly, the aim of the review was to put the case for moving funding away from administration and towards frontline services.

Mr Andrews himself says that :

"The review is not about cuts in funding, but freeing up resources by changing the balance in funding between front line and support services."

Yet, by suggesting that cuts in administration can be made without directly affecting the current frontline provision in Wales, some would argue that he has helped to make the case that there are efficiency savings that can be made by reducing administration and bureaucracy.

Hardly the type of proposed cuts which, according to Betsan Powys, had "absolutely terrified" some Labour members in the Chamber yesterday.

It also begs a number of serious questions on the management of government funding within Wales?

For example if over a billion pounds is being spent on administration within education, what of the other departments within the Assembly Government?

Also, why has the Labour Party allowed such a situation to develop during the last decade? It can hardly blame anyone else for this situation?

More importantly, given Mr Andrews' forensic conclusions, shouldn’t the First Minister be ordering a similar review of expenditure to be undertaken within all other Assembly departments?

Indeed, given the new spirit of co-operation between Cardiff Bay and Westminster, perhaps the WAG civil servants who carried out the education review can be loaned to the new Government as they begin their review of government spending.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Leighton Andrews is a pragmatist and there is far too much spent on non front-line resource,the trick is to get the right balance,You have to have admin ,but really what's appropriate and necessary.Sort the systems then the staffing.
I think Edwina Hart needs to be as open with the health Service,where they are talking about front line cuts ,where we cannot afford to loose staff- our waiting lists are still not as good as England. The ration of growth in non medical staff has been startling.
Wonder if she will be as forthcoming.
May 19, 2010 8:08 am
Jeff Jones said…
What's new Dylan? The PWC report only confirmed what some of us having been arguing for years.I argued in the early 1980s that Mid Galmaorgan should abolish district education offices and sent the money direct to the schools. My model was Yugoslavia's education system! The role of the LEA should be reduced to advice and quality control. Heads appointed for their mangerial skills (which need not come from an education background) on short term contracts with their governing bodies should be responsible for the success or otherwise of their school. The role of the LEA should be to scrutinise whether or not public money is delivering the right outcomes. Millions of pounds are being wasted in Wales because local authorities have not tackled surplus places and the post 16 issue. My own local authority is missing a major opportunity by creating a new 11-18 school instead of reorganising post 16 education. Students are being given the wrong advice to stay in the V1th form and subjects are being cut unless there are more than 10 in a group. In my local comprehensive there were 17 unclassified results at A level last year. Of course all of this is not known to the public because results are not published. Yet this criminal waste of resources isn't even on the political radar. The report also poses a real problem for the Assembly's commitment not just to protect education but to increase expenditure by 1% above the settlement from the Uk government. What is the point if it is merely swallowed up in adminstration? It really is up to Leighton Andrews to push through the changes required. His own area in the Rhobdda would have had tertiary education more than 20 years ago if some of us had won the argument. Unfortunately for a generation of students we lost because the then Director of Education who was a Labour Party member argued that it would cost Labour votes. The key to getting Wales working again is simple. All successful economies have first class education systems and first class infrastruture and business support. Unfortunately in its first 10 years the Assembly talked a good game but too often even with the massive increase in resources didn't deliver the necessary policy changes.
May 19, 2010 8:11 am
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
Agree with you both.

You have to wonder whether WAG and other public bodies, with the Welsh budget doubling over ten years, have just been spending money for the sake of it rather than focusing on where you can get the greatest impact to improve our economy and society.

At the very least, this review should trigger a wider examination of expenditure within WAG.
May 19, 2010 9:41 am
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