Philip Green’s business background is writ plain across his review of government waste – right down to its PowerPoint style layout. Many of its recommendations reduce down
to a claim made on p.20: “There is no reason why the thinking in the public sector needs to be different from the private sector.” And so we read a suggestion that departments halve the
number of hotel visits by using video-conferencing. There are passages on how to get the best deals for mobile phone contracts and printer cartridges, too.
This isn’t to trivialise the report. Far from it. Many of its findings are of the I-can’t-believe-government-operates-like-that variety – and Green extrapolates from there to make sensible points about how Whitehall can function better. I was struck, for instance, by his observation that “data is inconsistent and hard to get at, making it impossible to buy efficiently.”
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in