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Happened to me several times. I had to get on with it - not featherbedded in the public sector. Well done John Swinney, there are plenty of Labour placemen to be flushed out.

Anyone remember the Howat Report commissioned by Labour in 2004 well before the last Holyrood Election, but something they didn't want made public and couldn't commit to publishing? [bold]Howat Report[/bold] Pub. 2007 (Completed July 2006!!!!!) Choices for a Purpose: Review of Scottish Executive Budgets [italic]www.scotland.gov.uk/ Publications/2007/05 /23114346/0[/italic] It identified over [bold]£1Billion[/bold] worth of potential 'realignment' within the then Scottish Executive's Budgets based on the available evidence for [bold]2007/2008[/bold] That would have been [bold]4%[/bold] of the anticipated budgets. The report even includes this priceless phrase ...... "All the indications are that 2007 will be much tighter than recent spending reviews with lower growth in resources.....2007 proves to be financially much tighter as expected, then the SE will face much harder choices in allocating its budgets" And here's another one. [italic]"...Scotland's public services are delivered through a complex and costly web of public bodies and agencies. This 'crowded landscape' should be reviewed as soon as possible to determine whether fewer organisational entities could be more effective at delivering outcomes and could do so at a reduced cost...." And another,,,,, "....The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform has 'a duty to ensure that every pound that is spent is spent wisely and where it can have the most impact..."[/italic] The article above mentions that local government is expected to find £178m in savings this year, rising to £524m by 2010-11, but the detail is being left to individual councils..... it totally misses the crucial element that these savings are to be retained by Local Government and ploughed back into front line services.... Indeed, all of the efficiencies are going back into front line services....... more refreshing transparency from the SNP! oooo..... and look who the author of the piece is.... [bold]surprise surprise....[/bold] and no, it's not cilla Pathetic journalism again from Red Douglas

it would have been interesting if this paper actually carried a lot of reports about the massive closure of Scotland's local tax office swith the loss of 12,500 jobs. Soon all the local tax offices will see their work centralised down south - enjoy the call centres that don't have properly trained staff. http://news.bbc.co.u k/1/hi/uk/6152988.st m

and so it begins.........

Just heard a classic tonight on Scotland at Ten. challenged that the nats cuts had led to the abandonment of North Lanarkshire infrastructure buildng, Alex Neil completely denied it with "they've not been abandoned - they've been reprioritised!" Have a listen again on the iplayer it certainly gave me a laugh. A nat governement that spins like Blair's - you couldnt make it up.

Well about time too. I like the quote about Red Douglas. Why does the Herald not get to the bottom of the mole in the Labour Party. Who shopped Wendy? Why did Charlie go? Did someone have a photo of him in a dress? What else didnt come out? There was more ...............dont you think?

"Job cuts on way as Swinney plans £1.6bn savings" - This headline isn't in quotation marks. Where's the evidence Douglas? Oh that's right, you don't need any - you have artistic licence from the boss on SNP stories. What about Job Cuts on Way as Brown Bails out Northern Rock with Public Money? Or Job Cuts on Way as Brown withholds Scotland's Money. Didn't think so. Shameful sycophancy. How are you today Alf?

I see the Herald haven't sacked Alf ....yet ! Reporting of the worst kind - it is pretending to be even-handed.

What does the Scottish Labour Party have to say about these planned £1.6bn savings ?

Absolutely disgraceful stuff from the nats. People of Scotland - there is only one party that cares about your jobs - and it aint the SNP

"People of Scotland...." Hark at him! Pretentious, or what? Jobs-for-the-boys Labour only looks after its own, and those with the brown envelopes. The rest of you can go hang, and here's a doubling of your tax rate for your trouble.

PTBS KMFAYW

Good post Wardog, I agree with everything you said. Just one other addition; other than one stint with a large uniformed public sector organisation I have always worked in the private sector. At one time I was looking seriously at a good public sector job, however there was this 'crowded landscape' and small power structures I would have had to deal with so I did n't take the application further; it would have made working difficult and trying to achieve positive outcomes almost impossible. It was a labour controlled council. This was at time where all larger private sector industries had networked PCs for a few years and this council HQ had very few; it still had a typing pool; this was within the last 10 years.

[quote][bold]DJ[/bold] wrote: Just heard a classic tonight on Scotland at Ten. challenged that the nats cuts had led to the abandonment of North Lanarkshire infrastructure buildng, Alex Neil completely denied it with "they've not been abandoned - they've been reprioritised!" Have a listen again on the iplayer it certainly gave me a laugh. A nat governement that spins like Blair's - you couldnt make it up.[/quote] Are we surprised? NO. Anyone in here who is not a party hack knows they ALL lie, spin and deceive. Mr Swindler's (oops Swinney) chickens are coming home to roost. Prices for services are rocketing, cuts to services and jobs are going. A devalued parliament in a devalued democracy. A government in turmoil and a country in flames.

Good to see the neo-Thatcherite nats beginning to let their masks slip. I particularly liked the relish displayed by some posters at the prospect of public sector sackings. For the apologists of cuts in jobs and services amongst the nats self-styled lefties: all that self-righteous cant you've been spouting about Labour betrayal of the working classes? Nauseating hypocrisy as we see the leftie nats pathetically trying to explain why: a. Jobs cuts are good. b. It's all Labour's fault anyway. You may convince yourselves. The people won't be fooled by this and you'll pay for this at the ballot box. Two sides of the one coin, and the people of Scotland have a Hobson's choice: Labour betrayal or nationalist Thatcherite jobs cuts

DJ wrote: [quote]A nat governement that spins like Blair's - you couldnt make it up.[/quote] Yes you could DJ, you just have. From the article: [quote]...t is claimed the changes can be made without compulsory redundancies[/quote] So, there might not be redundancies........ .......hell Douglas, let's just go with the "Job cuts on the way" headline anyway. Anyone keeping a score on Douglas's objectivity since he returned from his break? I make 3 articles thus far, two very much anti SNP in content and the third (this one) with informative content but a great big anti SNP front page headline.

So what is the issue here? All that John Swinney has done is focus on how local authorities operate, by getting them to change their operation and deliver front-line, or face to face, council services without compulsory redundancies and in the meantime save 1.6 billion; what is Thatcherite about that? I would say that John Swinney is more pragmatic with the pennies than previous finance ministers because he does not have the SLAB baggage to contend with. I am also quitre sure that John Swinney is able to see through the smoke & mirrors of previous public finance to make services more efficient. If it was my money I would be making sure that I was getting the most efficient use of it.

[quote][bold]Hamish McKropotkin[/bold] wrote: Good to see the neo-Thatcherite nats beginning to let their masks slip. I particularly liked the relish displayed by some posters at the prospect of public sector sackings. For the apologists of cuts in jobs and services amongst the nats self-styled lefties: all that self-righteous cant you've been spouting about Labour betrayal of the working classes? Nauseating hypocrisy as we see the leftie nats pathetically trying to explain why: a. Jobs cuts are good. b. It's all Labour's fault anyway. You may convince yourselves. The people won't be fooled by this and you'll pay for this at the ballot box. Two sides of the one coin, and the people of Scotland have a Hobson's choice: Labour betrayal or nationalist Thatcherite jobs cuts[/quote] Anyone, but anyone who observes public services knows that there is a great deal of 'bloat' in public services. There is also a limited pot of money to spend. Try speaking to people who work in the public sector. Most of them will say their department is very busy but they will identify easy savings everywhere else. What you are advocating is that people do pretend jobs to keep them off the dole! Where is your respect for them there? So let me see- are you genuinely saying that restructuring public services to be more efficient, without redundancies - whilst reinvesting the savings in improved public services is a bad thing? There has to be a new consensus on what is best for the country rather than the politics of conflict. This is Scotland in the 2000's - not British Leyland in the 1970's regardless of how much you would like it to be.

Krapotkin, DJ, Rantaway, PtbS. Pray tell, why don't you? Why the crocodile tears? These efficiency savings were explained in the Budget, and discussed in the ensuing debate, were they not? Why then, did NuLabour and the LibDems not vote against the Budget? You are peddlers, all, of disinformation, smears, fears and negativity. [bold]If I am being unjust to you, I apologise unreservedly, but for me to do that, you would have to produce a coherent, costed alternative BUDGET.[/bold] I, and I am sure many other, await your response.

So lets get this straight, Scarlet PtbS + Comrade McKopotikin are advocating that the size of Scottish Central Government remains the same even although a report commissioned by their OWN party states that there is atleast a £1B 'bloat'. Who do you think is paying for this bloat you idiots. You is suffering from the 60-100% rise in Council Tax over the last decade, who is suffering from the abolition of the 10% Tax rate to fund this, why has every single council signed up to a concordat that FOR THE FIRST TIME allows them to retain ALL of their efficiency savings and redeploy these resources back into the front line. [quote] "Whatever you think of the overall amount of money available for the public sector in Scotland, [bold]local government stopped the decline of its share and marginally reversed that trend[/bold] " [bold]Pat Watters[/bold] [/quote] [bold]Labour: Against Efficient Local Government. Labour: For the 'Clunking Fist' of Central Government Meddling[/bold] Scarlet PtbS + Comrade McKopotikin's only fall back, as is Red Douglas's is a scare mongering headline with absolutely no evidence whatsoever.... operating on FEAR rather than actually reading the document and the definitions of efficiency savings that have been identified....... Which century do you both live in, your faux socialism is out of step with your great leaders who is hammering the working poor LEFT right and centre..... Labour are failing Scotland and have been doing so for the past 50 years.... PtBS & Mckopotin's Socialism is the worst kind of hypocrisy, they have nothing to say about the recent tax hikes on the poor but bleat like sheep when real fundamental efficiency plans (and NO EVIDENCE of compulsory job cuts) are openly publicised by a party sticking to it's words and being transparent in Government.......... . [bold]Efficiency Delivery Plans - March 2008[/bold] [bold]2008-11 Efficiency Programme[/bold] [italic]www.scotland.gov.uk/ Publications/2008/03 /EDPMarch2008[/italic] [quote] Certain types of activity [bold]do not count[/bold] as efficiency gains: • Cuts that result in poorer or reduced public services. • Increased income from higher fees and charges to the public. [/quote]

When were Labourites ever red? Yellow more like.

Ah there is life in Labour yet. What a lot of tosh in the comments. It is an accepted fact that public spending crowds out private investment. The Scottish economy is over dependent on the public sector with about 50 percent of the GDP deployed by the state. This is about the highest figure in Europe. It is long overdue for the process to be reversed. The SNP are abolishing business rates for small companies over the next few years - that will increase the success of business startups, and indeed increase their number. The complaints from the south about us being subsidised would be easier to refute if far fewer of us worked for the government. I know one urban myth that only 163 thousand people here pay tax. It does us no favours to participate in the bloated gravy train. What happened that the country which drove the industrial revolution became a nation on welfare? I suggest that the 2 percent reductions are long overdue, and its not a question of where a person stands politically, its common sense. Even Cuba is opening up to private enterprise .

[bold]Comrade McKropotkin, Bannockburn on 6:04am today[/bold] You still haven't told us what your ballot box alternative is Comrade Hamish...... Who should we vote for to avoid ' the great satan ' of [italic]thatcherite[/italic] policies.......??? The thronged crowds are waiting for your public address, comrade. To be sticking up for REAL job losses is one thing, but to be advocating an increasingly inefficient local AND central government is quite another..... you sound like you haven't left the [bold]1970's[/bold] Hammering the Poor & Fixed Income Households with Council tax on the one hand and taking away bread off the table with yer 10% sickle to pay for for public money wastage is deplorable...... every single serious party in the parliament advocated it. Your faux crocodile tear socialism is convincing no-one.

David B, Larkhall on 7:53am today Gordon Brown's reaction to John Snow Ch4's assertion that the UK isn't the place to do business but that Ireland with it's 10% Corporation tax was telling. He's terrified of an independent Scotland lowering corporation Tax and haemorrhaging the rest of the UK whilst our nation benefits from higher private sector employment and less dependency on public sector handouts....... To grow our economy & improve our society means we must have more efficient public services with more money being spent on front line services for people. Scotland has a disproportionate amount of public sector employment and that isn't nurses and firemen, it's middle 'micro' managers, quango bodies and beaurocracy that labour have obfuscated the whole system with, thanks good that one of the other parties did get into power to start to untangle this shambles. The vast majority of the Efficiency Savings detailed in the publication are common sense budgeting and long overdue. Why Labour couldn't bring itself to even start to tackle these after the Howatt Report is beyond me but indicative of their paralysis in the face of radical reform and dealing with the public sector. And before any of our usual Labour hacks denounce eithe rmy post of the efficiency savings as thatcherite, please consider the actions of your comrade in arms Broon. The UK Government is making 3% Efficiency Savings on it's Budgets, it is a normal process in REAL government..... the only surprise is that it's taken nearly 9 years for the Scot's to actually propose one and that took an SNP Government in power. Broon's use of temporary immigration to cut wages, disguising PFI in public spending, promoting economic distortions such as buy-to-let which has made housing unaffordable for 90% of first-time buyers is the worst kind of Thaterite 'liberal market' philosophy. More than one generation of Scots are already in hock to the banks, with debts that will cripple them for the rest of their lives..... The idea that Broon or indeed any of his sycophant disciples such as the Alexander Puppets are latter-day social democrats who can trace their descent from Red Clydeside is a disgraceful sham which true Socialists should denounce. New Labour's politics is micro-management, their economic philosophy is 'choice' and their morality is that of individualism over collective or solidarity principals. The very same philosophies of Mrs Thatcher.

Tell you what the party elected by the people are going to put people out of work when we are in the jaws of a global recession, disgraceful. I bet the MPs and MSPs will still be travelling business class on trains, planes and automobiles no doubt and claiming expenses throught there teeth. What a shower the lot of them, exactly what will Mr Swinney be saying to the fami,ies of people affected by this, also hospital to find efficiencies, have you ever visited the likes of our respite hospitals they are run down like dykebar which is an abomonation. I tell you what it was a sorry day when John Smith passed away, he was Scotlands last hope, brown offers nothing to Scotland, the SNP little ..bring Back Cherlie Kennedy at least he was human

[quote][bold]Wardog[/bold] wrote: [bold]Comrade McKropotkin, Bannockburn on 6:04am today[/bold] You still haven't told us what your ballot box alternative is Comrade Hamish...... Who should we vote for to avoid ' the great satan ' of [italic]thatcherite[/italic] policies.......??? The thronged crowds are waiting for your public address, comrade. To be sticking up for REAL job losses is one thing, but to be advocating an increasingly inefficient local AND central government is quite another..... you sound like you haven't left the [bold]1970's[/bold] Hammering the Poor & Fixed Income Households with Council tax on the one hand and taking away bread off the table with yer 10% sickle to pay for for public money wastage is deplorable...... every single serious party in the parliament advocated it. Your faux crocodile tear socialism is convincing no-one. [/quote] Hey Wardog, Why not go the whole hog and steal her slogans as well as her policies. Altogether now, “there is no alternative” . Perhaps you can give us 'The McSwinney's not for turning' as an encore. As usual we get the attacks on other parties to hide the SNP's guilt. The SNP want the power but they're too cowardly to take the responsibility. Oh and incidentally, Comrade Broon isn't in my party. The nationalists seem unable to do anything without lengthy and boring attacks on Labour. We get it, you hate Labour and the trades unions. Your continued attacks on organised labour show you for what you truly are: anti-tades union, anti-working class and deeply reactionary. You will be resisted by the organised working class. Avanti!

Wardog, Buckie on 7:45am Good post Wardog, thank you.

Once again endless posts about 'bloated' public sector,'pretend jobs', 'focussing' and 'efficiency savings' - please, get real - cuts are cuts - whether New Labour or SNP. Part of the election of SNP government was, surely , about rejection of the T.I.N.A. philosophy (there is no alternative)?

Wardog, Buckie on 7:45am Good post Wardog, thank you.

[quote][bold]Duns Scotus[/bold] wrote: Happened to me several times. I had to get on with it - not featherbedded in the public sector. Well done John Swinney, there are plenty of Labour placemen to be flushed out.[/quote] What an idiot! You won't be saying that when essential public services for you and your family are gone due to the nat budget. So it begins- cuts and cuts to pay for the nats looney policies. And this time they can't blane the English. What's the plan for the people who lose their jobs? Get work cleaning in trump's golf course?

Hamish: What [bold]is[/bold] your view on the Howat report? Was it right to suppress it? Have you made the same complaints about the UK gov. making 3% savings?

Can Swinney not become SNP leader again? That was fun!

The one's that Douglas cites: A bid to reduce sickness absence is expected to cut the cost of paying overtime and agency staff, saving [bold]£62m[/bold] per year. Smarter, centralised procurement should release [bold]£54m[/bold] by 2011. Consultants are being told to improve throughput of patients, reducing overnight stays, with day surgery "becoming the norm". Twenty health boards are forming three consortia to share finance services, while they must reduce their drugs bill by [bold]£25m[/bold]. Others noted in the document: [bold]£20m recurring saving[/bold] to be delivered through more effective supply side arrangements in the provision of drugs [bold]£1m[/bold] recurrent saving to be delivered through a mixture of actual recoveries and deterrence of NHS Fraud [bold]£10m[/bold] a year for the next three years - Forestry Commission to buy/sell land and plant with trees that better meet Scotland's needs. [bold]£100m[/bold] over three years saving to be delivered from negotiations with National Rail over rebate, identified over inflation and renewal costs. [bold]£50m[/bold] over three years saving to be delivered from identified over inflation and renewal costs for Road Management [bold]£15m[/bold] this year by reforming Scottish Enterprise [bold]192M[/bold] over three years from Education by Identifying, sharing and replicating new approaches for the delivery of learning, research and support functions and the development of new collaborative activities, Joint Venture Arrangement and best practice in management of Education Estates. [bold]£8m[/bold] over three years from Scottish National Heritage through service review & sharing services, co-location, procurement and service delivery of front-line and back office functions [bold]£113m[/bold] over three years from a the simple reorganisation of Veterinary Surveillance System [bold]£4M[/bold] from SEPA over three years through service reorganisation and sharing of facilities and resources. [bold]£5M[/bold] from Decommissioning/Repl acement of Scottish Fisheries Protection Vessel & Aircraft along with a review of office locations in line with current fishery locations. [bold]£6M[/bold] from merger of Rowatt Institute with Aberdeen University [bold]£945M[/bold] over three years from NHS Efficiency Savings to be made by Local Health Authorities by improving productivity and use of existing resources through reductions in cycle times, process times and better use of existing capacity. [bold]£108m[/bold] over three years through better NHS Procurement [bold]£62M[/bold] over three years from NHS Logistics derived from centralised purchasing delivering better prices and NHS Scotland taking more responsibility for distribution through use of a National Distribution Centre [bold]£60M[/bold] over three years through better drug purchasing [bold]£62.5m[/bold] over three years from the Affordable Housing Investment Programme, Savings will be made in AHIP by reducing the average amount of grant per approved unit of affordable housing [bold]£120M[/bold] of Time Releasing Savings over three years from reducing Public Sector Staff Absenteeism from 5.27% to 4% [bold]£7M[/bold] over three years from consultant time savings [bold]£15M[/bold] over three years from central police budgets through a review of of management structures, facilities management and delivering all ICT systems and equipment to the Scottish Police Service on a national basis [bold]£21M[/bold] saving over three years from Legal Aid from improved forecasting of anticipated demand for legal aid and improved control over expenditure to ensure all payments are for work properly and necessarily done. [bold]£30M[/bold] saving over three years from CENTRAL Government where savings will principally be made through working more efficiently across the Government as a whole [bold]£2.5M[/bold] made by Office of the First Minister through procurement efficiencies and reduction of staff including photographers, visitor services and better use of temporary staff Other smaller but potentially very radical first steps include the introduction of the Scottish Investment Fund, the current £60 of public investment supporting £40 of private sector investment will be shifted to £55:£45, achieving a better deal for the public. The only one that I personally can find fault with is the affordable housing grant reduction which I feel will hinder innovative development of sustainable models and push development towards larger RSL's rather than smaller more innovative Community Based Associations........ .

Hamish McKropotkin, Bannockburn on 8:26am today So you are in the Scottish Communist Party?

It is hard to believe that there are so many selfish idiots out there who take great pleasure in the thought of people losing their jobs and being tossed on the scrap-heap. Is this how they were brought up or did they accumulate all these nasty chips on their shoulders during their uneventful lives.

[quote][bold]Tony88[/bold] wrote: It is hard to believe that there are so many selfish idiots out there who take great pleasure in the thought of people losing their jobs and being tossed on the scrap-heap. Is this how they were brought up or did they accumulate all these nasty chips on their shoulders during their uneventful lives.[/quote] Where's your evidence for job cuts Tony? Who is lo