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[b]ononeorange[/b] - Member
Couldn't agree more, Binners. On both counts. Start paying a civil servant well and all the envy-hackles will go up in the media.
If you factor in the value of the pension benefits then top ranking civil servants are paid extremely well. (I know we are not talking about local government but the head of your local authority is probably making £200k+ in salary/benefits alone).
You then have to think about the commercial value of the very cushy working environment they enjoy.
What worries me most is this public procurement of private providers sounds remarkably like what they've got in mind for the NHS. Which is frankly terrifying!!
Indeed. Branson can't [i]wait[/i] to get in on the act - Virgin Care is set to run children's services in Devon, as well as greatly expanding their GP empire (see their takeover of Assura). New service providers will profit via both the value of projected (taxpayer-funded) contracts & cutting back on services (e.g. using nurses instead of docs) - all the while being careful to palm off the tricky (read: expensive, messy) stuff to overstretched NHS acute care. Beardy is taking the pish, IMO.
Still, with that idjut Hunt as Health Sec and David Bennett (ex-McKinsey & Bliar advisor) as chairman of NHS regulator Monitor, I imagine the prognosis for Virgin Care is very good indeed. 👿