From: steve_brookS_TIRED_LEFTY@HOTMAIL.COM   
      
   'new figures suggest £20 billion a year of taxpayers' money - equivalent to   
   almost 6p on basic rate income tax - has been wasted on soaring wage claims   
   and burgeoning bureaucracy, at the expense of frontline services'   
      
      
   The Sunday Times - Britain   
      
      
      
   April 25, 2004   
      
   Leak reveals Labour has wasted £20bn   
   Robert Winnett and David Leppard   
      
      
      
   TONY BLAIR'S pledge to improve Britain's public services has been dealt a   
   blow by a leaked cabinet document that shows their efficiency has collapsed   
   since he took power.   
   The government has pumped extra tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers'   
   money into the NHS, schools and police forces but the confidential memo   
   reveals that productivity in the public sector has slumped by 10% since   
   1997.   
      
      
   The document discloses that in health and education, which will be the   
   battleground in the forthcoming general election, the situation is even   
   worse with productivity down by between 15% and 20%. This means every pound   
   the government spends is producing up to a fifth less in public services   
   than in 1997.   
   In the past the government has publicly admitted only a 3% fall in   
   productivity since Blair won office. Experts say the new figures suggest £20   
   billion a year of taxpayers' money - equivalent to almost 6p on basic rate   
   income tax - has been wasted on soaring wage claims and burgeoning   
   bureaucracy, at the expense of frontline services.   
   The statistics, prepared for a cabinet committee meeting attended by Blair's   
   most senior ministers, directly contradict the prime minister's claims to be   
   delivering on public services. As a result, the minutes of the meeting   
   reveal that Blair is now seeking to alter the way official figures are   
   calculated to show Labour's record in a better light.   
   He has ordered the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to change the way   
   the figures are compiled so Labour can present a more "credible story" in   
   the run-up to the next election, the minutes record.   
   The change is significant because the ONS said last December the British   
   method of measuring public sector productivity was best practice globally.   
   The strategy is recorded in the confidential minutes of a March 4 meeting on   
   public service reform. It was chaired by Blair and attended by ministers and   
   election strategists, including John Prescott, the deputy prime minister,   
   Gordon Brown, the chancellor, and David Blunkett, the home secretary.   
   It was seized on last night by the Tories as damning evidence to contradict   
   Blair's claim last autumn that productivity in the public sector was   
   improving and to undermine a boast by Brown that Labour provides a "world   
   class" health service.   
   The minutes reveal Blair is becoming increasingly desperate to get his   
   message across that real improvements are taking place in hospitals and   
   schools. Sixty per cent of the public believe they have not seen an   
   improvement in public services, said the document.   
   The memo, which was marked "Restricted", said: "Official data showed that   
   productivity had fallen steadily since 1997, with a 10% decrease overall and   
   15-20% in health and education."   
   The ministerial committee decided that it needed to change the way "official   
   data" were compiled so it could pre-empt challenges. "A change to the   
   definition of productivity in the public sector was vital, particularly in   
   measuring health outcomes," the minutes stated.   
   The document said ministers agreed to order Len Cook, director of the ONS,   
   to change the way his office compiles productivity figures. This should be   
   done with "more urgency".   
   In a move that will reignite the row over Labour spin, the memo also spoke   
   of developing "credible stories" to combat criticism of bureaucracy, of the   
   need for "lodging key delivery facts in the public's mind" and the   
   importance of setting up a "proper system of rebuttal".   
   The ONS is already working with Sir Tony Atkinson, an academic from Nuffield   
   College, Oxford, who is reviewing existing ways of compiling figures. The   
   minutes noted: "Challenges from the public and the opposition on the rate of   
   public sector improvement were becoming more frequent, so it was important   
   that interim figures should be produced in advance of the final report to   
   provide simple, verifiable messages about progress on outputs. The ONS   
   confirmed they would be able to do this."   
   The need to change the figures reflected ministerial concerns that the   
   public had lost trust in government statements on health and education. The   
   memo said: "The prime minister said it was of fundamental importance that   
   the major investment . . . was seen to deliver . . .   
   "Work needed to be done to lodge key delivery facts in the public mind . . .   
   it was important that departments developed a proper system of rebuttal to   
   address challenges on public sector performance."   
   Ministers' concerns have been reinforced by internal polling that suggests   
   most people do not believe schools and hospitals have improved under Labour.   
   "Figures suggested that 60% of the public believed they had not seen an   
   improvement in public services. It was important that each department had at   
   least two or three key delivery facts that it could communicate to challenge   
   these perceptions," the document said.   
   Ministers were also worried about how to defend the performance of the huge   
   numbers employed in the civil service and local government. "A credible   
   story was needed in both these areas."   
   David Willetts, the Tories' head of policy, said: "These figures represent a   
   catastrophic failure of public policy. A massive problem is staring the   
   government in the face.   
   "Instead of tackling the problem, the government is trying to change the way   
   that the evidence is measured. It looks like the ONS might be being brought   
   into a government spin operation."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)