Productivity - the new political buzzword?
Birkenhead MP Frank Field has blogged about an issue which I suspect he is right to highlight as something that is going to rise up the political agenda - productivity.
He points out that according to the office for national statistics that between 1997 and 2007 productivity in the public sector fell well over three percentage points.
This of course was at a time of massive investment in public services - most of it much needed.
Frank Field points out:
It was obvious this time last year that Britain faced a major budgetary crisis. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research estimate that by 2012 public expenditure even after taking into account the changes the Government have announced for after the election will come in at 48% of GDP. By then the Government estimates the economy will be again booming, but the tax revenue from this booming economy will come in at 'only' 38% of GDP.
How are the public accounts to be balanced? That is the big central question which needs to come centre stage if the debt market is to be convinced that Britain is worth lending to.
The ONS report is the most useful of pointers to the politics of the new era. Not only has the central assumption of social democracy - that increasing gains can come from increasing public expenditure - been tested to the point of destruction, but the new politics needs to pick up the debate from this very point.
Each of the major public budgets must be set the task of winning those non-existent productivity gains that should have been forthcoming as undreamt of sums money were allowed to slosh around the public sector. New skills will be required for the new politics.
The key people that have to be promoted in the public sector are those whose eyes are firmly on the new agenda of delivering more for less. Job security can only come if public sector workers embrace change to deliver those productivity gains which have failed to materialise since 1997.
Politicians too will need new skills. Move one is to tear up the old hymn sheets. Move two is to write the new music. The idea that one is a good Minister because one successfully defends ones budget against attack has to become old hat.
Ministers should only be promoted because they start delivering more services with a smaller budget.
The productivity figure will add weight to those that believe that Labour missed a huge opportunity to forever change Britain with deep long lasting reforms and instead just threw money at problems.
What's more, instead of just paying for things many new projects were built (and are continuing to be built) using the incredibly expensive Public Finance Initiative (PFI).
We all know that it was part of Gordon Brown's con to keep borrowing off the books, but the huge end cost of these projects will still have to be borne by the taxpayer.
What's more when it came to the tough choices like reforming public sector pensions the government bottled it.
A good area to start saving money would be to scrap ID cards.
There's no doubting that Labour have changed Britain and made it a fairer society, but, if it ends up not being sustainable will it have been worth it?
Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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