Ross Clark on a supposedly ‘model’ Tory authority which has, behind the scenes, left elderly homeowners to suffer at the hands of private contractors
For an idea of what public services might look like in Cameron’s Britain we are encouraged to look at Essex County Council. Along with Hammersmith & Fulham it is held up as a ‘flagship’ Conservative authority, showing what can be achieved if councils become more businesslike. Essex it was that in December signed a five-year, £5.4 billion deal with IBM to manage and provide public services such as management of schools, maintenance of highways and organisation of social care. The deal, claims Essex, will save £200 million a year by replacing people with technology and cutting down the number of staff sent to administer social care to the elderly. It was Essex, too, which claims to have put 239 extra officers on the beat by slashing £27 million of police waste — cutting out tea and biscuits, and ordering police to fill up their cars at Tesco.
Essex’s image as a shining example of public administration has been looking a bit jaded recently, after Lord Hanningfield, the then Tory leader of the council, was named three weeks ago as one of four parliamentarians who will face charges over the expenses scandal: he stands accused of claiming for overnight stays in London when records are alleged to show that he was driven home to Essex. He has since resigned. But Hanningfield is far from the only problem. The council has also been criticised for wasting £62,000 sending 13 councillors and officers on a junket to Jamestown, Virginia. The Essex police must manage without even a consolatory biscuit with their tea; even so, the council delegation felt quite comfy going business class and ran up a £7,000 hotel bill.
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